


Look Up

by Bones (thepiesandthebees)



Series: In the Light of the End [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Also not satisfied with character development so there's that, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, I just really hated the Battle of Scarif, Kinda, M/M, Minor Chirrut Îmwe/Baze Malbus, Slow Burn, and like half the rogue one team, except for k-2, pretty much the entire movie with a lot of fixing and some things added, the main team lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-25 01:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12519948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepiesandthebees/pseuds/Bones
Summary: Cassian was certain of two things: Jyn had training as a spy, and she had no problem letting him know that. The way she’d looked at him while he’d asked her questions, as if she could see every twisted thing inside him, was unnerving. She walked with silent footsteps. It betrayed her years of practice in stealth as much as the way she scanned her environment—assessing, analyzing, planning. But the coldness that came with being a rebel spy didn’t show in her eyes. No, when she looked at him, it was with fire.(Or the parts I wish I'd seen in the movie.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There are big sections that I essentially transcribed from the movie. I just wasn't at all satisfied with the level of character development in the film, so this can read like a character study sometimes. I also re-wrote the entire Battle of Scarif.

The blood wouldn’t come off no matter how hard he scrubbed his hands. Blisters threatened to form on his skin—from the scalding hot water or the cloth grating over his palms, he didn’t know. All physical evidence of blood had already washed away, but he could still feel it clinging to him.

Blue eyes.

With a frustrated growl, he tossed the cloth across the room. It smacked into the shower door with a wet thump and slid to the floor. The mirror over the sink showed wide, brown eyes. He couldn’t deny the tears threatening to spill from them or the pain in his gaze.

Brown hair.

He squeezed his eyes shut and hunched over the sink, bracing himself on the edges. A sob—or maybe a scream—wanted to escape his throat. The sound of the water spilling from the faucet couldn’t drown out the screams ringing between his ears.

Freckles.

“Cassian.”

His eyes snapped open. He turned to see Mon Mothma standing in the doorway to the bathroom. His back straightened immediately.

“Yes, ma’am?” His voice came out stronger than he felt, the result of years of training.

Her sharp eyes swept over his disheveled form a moment. He was covered in blood and dirt. The bandage around his forearm was more blood than fabric at this point.

“I know you just returned,” she said slowly, as if choosing her words carefully, “but if you are able, the senators would like a debrief on your mission.”

He nodded. “Of course, ma’am. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You can refuse, if you need—”

“I just need a change of clothes.” He wasn’t supposed to interrupt a senator, much less Mothma, but if she took offense, she didn’t show it. Instead, she turned on her heel and disappeared down the hall. The door slid closed automatically.

Cassian took several deep breaths, pushing away the memories of what he’d done. There’d be more in the years to come. This couldn’t break him now.

He stepped out into his quarters, nothing more than a bed and a dresser, and found a change of clothes. His hands shook while he pulled them on, so while he headed to the debrief room, he kept his fists close to his sides, willing them to still. Other rebel soldiers glanced at him as he passed. They didn’t speak, but he saw the worry in their eyes. He hadn’t slept in three days at this point. It showed in the lines of his face and the hitch in his knee and the hunch of his shoulders.

Mon Mothma and Davits Draven stood around the display table, looking at what appeared to be an Imperial shuttle headed for Wobani. They glanced at Cassian when he entered.

“What happened, captain?” Draven asked in that deceptively level tone that meant he wasn’t pleased.

Cassian gave his report. He explained how his team had flown in to extract the target on Chandrila without issue. His voice didn’t shake when he said that the Imperials had used a group of children as spies who’d put tracking devices on his team. After many a firefight, they had no choice, but to sneak into an Imperial base, light a fuse, and turn everything to ash. At least one child died in the blast. The target was extracted in the main city without further complications.

Draven and Mothma listened to him monotonously tell them he’d ordered his team to murder a child, and they just nodded.

“Good work,” Draven said.

Cassian wanted to vomit. He inclined his head, and his hair fell around his face, concealing the lines of pain around his eyes. “Is there anything else you need from me, sir?”

“There is.” Draven pointed to a star chart on display. “We’ve been getting reports of Saw Gerrera’s men on Jedha. I want to know why.”

 Cassian’s tired thoughts were already running through ideas as to why. “I’ll leave immediately.” He saluted them, and they gave him terse nods in return. Mothma’s lips pursed, probably because she would have preferred he get some rest. But he had a duty.

His legs felt heavy as he headed back to his room. K-2SO could fly, so he could catch some sleep before arriving at the Ring of Kafrene. That had to be good enough.

Blue eyes.

He shook his head and pushed down all the feelings he had about the last mission. There would be more missions, more hard decisions. He couldn’t falter now.

Blue eyes.

#

It wasn’t the first time Jyn found herself in Wobani—albeit under a different name and appearance than Liana Hallik. They put her in the fields, making her hack away at dirt to plow the next crops. It was actually soothing, in a way—reminded her of her early years on Lah’mu. And then sometimes it was just hitting dirt until her hands ached and bled. This was the price of giving a damn.

She didn’t even know why she’d given up her last escape plan. Well, that wasn’t true. She did know. For all her anger at Saw and the Alliance, part of her still believed in something—not enough to get her to join either faction again—but enough that she couldn’t sit back when one of their fighters was captured and tortured for information. If that rebel had revealed anything, the Alliance or Saw could take damage.

So she’d bribed a couple guards, hacked a couple locks, and told him about the cargo shuttle leaving for Coruscant with enough room in its overhead ventilation tubes for one person. She’d made him promise not to tell the Alliance or Saw about her before sending him on his merry kriffing way. At least, another cargo ship would come in two days’ time. She’d break out then and continue her own life, subtly helping the Rebellion in ways they would never see while she profited off of it. Weapons smuggling was a lot easier to swallow when she sold the arms to rebels. She would never admit that, though.

Water, or maybe something else, fell from the sky and slid down her neck. She had calluses on her hands from swinging the hoe at the ground. The end vibrated, able to obliterate hard rock…or a person. She might have tried if all the guards near her weren’t droids. They were hardier than fleshy people.

Two days, and then she’d be free.

#

Cassian weaved through the mass of people on the Ring. Vendors served various street foods. Not all of them smelled good. Pickpockets ran into Cassian, but everything that could possibly be taken off him was strapped firmly to his person. Stormtroopers passed by. Cassian hurried down an alley where Tivik anxiously paced.

“I was about to leave,” Tivik said, fear plain on his face. Whatever he knew shook him.

Cassian offered an amiable smile, but it was difficult when he was so tired. “I came as fast as I could.”

Tivik’s anxiety seemed only to grow. “I have to get back on board.” He moved to leave. “Walk with me.”

Cassian took Tivik’s shoulder, stopping him. “Back to Jedha?”

“They’ll leave without me!” Tivik snapped and tried to leave, but Cassian stepped in his way.

“Easy!” Cassian said with more force than he meant. They didn’t have a lot of time before the ‘troopers would make their rounds this way. “You have news from Jedha. C’mon.”

Tivik seemed to fight an internal battle for a moment, shifting on his feet nervously and looking away. “An Imperial pilot,” he started hesitantly, “one of the cargo drivers, he defected yesterday. He’s telling people they’re making a weapon. The kyber crystals, that’s what they’re for.”

That was bad news. That was very, very bad news. “What kind of weapon?”

Tivik shook his head. “Look, I have to go!” He tried to bludgeon his way past.

Cassian’s time was up, as was his patience. He grabbed Tivik and forced him back. “What kind of weapon?” Cassian growled through his teeth.

“A planet killer!” Tivik pushed Cassian away when his grip faltered. “That’s what he called it!”

“A planet killer?” Cassian’s gut twisted at the thought.

Tivik let out a resigned breath. “Someone named Erso sent him—some old friend of Saw’s.”

“Galen Erso?” Cassian had heard of the Imperial engineer, a brilliant scientist who’d gone into hiding. Erso’s daughter was almost as infamous as her father. She’d caused all kinds of destruction as one of Saw’s militia, and even after she left the Rebellion, she continued to cause trouble—not always bad trouble.

When Tivik didn’t reply, Cassian hissed, “Was it?”

“I don’t know!” Tivik hunched into himself. “They were looking for Saw when we left.”

Panic hit Cassian, the all-consuming kind he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in a long time. “Who else knows about this?”

“I have no idea!” Tivik’s voice raised in pitch. “It’s all falling apart!” He stared Cassian down. “Saw’s right! There’s spies everywhere!”

The sound of stormtrooper radio chatter echoed off the metallic walls, making Cassian tense. Tivik paled when the ‘troopers rounded the corner.

“What’s all this?” one asked, voice garbled through his helmet.

Cassian slowly turned to look at the pair, hoping they wouldn’t recognize his face.

“Come on,” the other said. “Let’s see some scandocs.”

Tivik jumped to get his. Cassian offered as charming a smile as he could muster and said, “Yeah, of course. Just…my gloves.” By the Force’s grace, he was tired. But the ploy worked. The ‘troopers let him bend down to allegedly get his gloves while his hand went to the blaster at his hip. In one movement, he turned, shot the ‘troopers, and straightened.

Tivik gaped. “No! What have you done?”

Cassian ignored his informant and looked for a way out. The walls had ridges. They could be climbed.

Shouting sounded distantly. More ‘troopers would be on them soon.

“Are you crazy?” Tivik demanded, but his voice wavered. “I’ll never climb out of here! My arm!”

Cassian glanced at the deformed appendage hanging on Tivik’s shoulder. It was true. Tivik wouldn’t be able to climb out of here, and he knew too much to be captured. So Cassian gripped Tivik’s shoulder.

“Hey, calm down,” he whispered in as soothing voice as he could manage at the moment. “Calm down.”

Tivik glanced at him, the fear plain in his eyes, and didn’t reply.

“It will be all right.” Cassian raised his blaster to Tivik’s back, right in line with the heart. His hand shook when he pulled the trigger.

Tivik was dead before he hit the ground—instantaneous and mostly painless. Cassian would still have trouble sleeping. He stared down at Tivik’s prone, unmoving body, all kinds of emotions he didn’t want to feel warring in him. How long could he do this? How many times had he already done this?

Blue eyes.

The sound of the alarm blaring pulled him out of his trance. He scaled the wall.

#

Jyn had a…feeling. It was hard to describe, but sometimes she just _knew_ when something was about to happen. The transport rumbled beneath her feet, taking her and other prisoners back from the mines. The chains attached to her wrists clinked against the floor. She looked around when the feeling got stronger. Saw and her mother used to tell her to trust her instincts. If that’s what they were, they’d never been wrong. Something was coming.

She glanced at the prisoner across from her, and then a ‘trooper sitting near the door.

Five…

The transport abruptly stopped. “What now?” the ‘trooper grumbled as he stood.

Four…

“I don’t know,” another ‘trooper said. “Must be another pickup.”

Three…

Jyn leaned back in her seat, watching the door carefully.

Two…

“I thought we had everybody,” the ‘trooper said.

One…

The door latch clicked a moment before it burst in. Sparks flew everywhere. Jyn lifted her arms to guard her head. The sound of blasters firing preceded the ‘troopers cries. They dropped dead to the floor.

Rebel soldiers flooded into the transport, yelling for “Hallik! Liana Hallik!”

_Oh, kriff._

One pointed at her and said, “Her.”

“You wanna get out of here?” a rebel asked.

She nodded without speaking, keeping her eyes firmly on him. He undid her shackles just before another prisoner shouted, “Hey! What about me?”

Jyn kicked the rebel while he was distracted, sending him into the prisoner. Another rebel lunged for her, but she punched him out of her way, grabbed a shovel off the wall, and swung it into the man she’d kicked. The remaining rebel barely had time to put his hand on his blaster before she slammed the shovel into his face and bounded out of the transport.

Almost immediately, a security droid grabbed her shirt and slammed her into the ground. Everything went fuzzy for a moment. The air rushed out of her, and she was certain some ribs had been bruised. The droid looked down at her as she struggled for air.

“Congratulations,” it said. “You are being rescued. Please do not resist.”

Her jaw clenched. She glared up at the droid. The Rebellion had found her again. She wished they’d leave her on Wobani.


	2. Chapter 2

_20 BBY…_

The ventilation shaft burned, but Cassian didn’t move as he watched the clones walk past the grate. They didn’t speak, only marched. A commander out of Cassian’s sight barked orders. He listened for something of value. Most of the commander’s words disappeared in the roar of the ships flying out of the hangar, but after a few minutes, his voice drew closer until Cassian could see the grey of his uniform and his platinum blond hair.

“—think it’s a good idea,” someone Cassian couldn’t see through the grate murmured. “He’s unpredictable.”

The commander shook his head. “He’s loyal, and he has the trust of Pilkan Sodos.”

“And why hasn’t he killed Sodos yet?”

“In good time, sergeant. Chir will when I give the order, but he’s more use to us alive.”

Cassian had a hard time listening to the rest of the conversation, but Pilkan said he had to listen to everything. So he did. The commander and sergeant talked about their plans for Chir, how they expected him to plant a bomb in the rebel base on Mygeeto, how he had killed a diplomat in the Confederacy. Cassian listened. His heart seemed to twist in his chest. It felt deformed by the time the commander and captain left.

Chir was a double agent.

Several hours passed until most of the troops had left the hangar, and Cassian felt he could crawl out of the ventilation system undetected. His tiny body fit through the stuffy, hot shafts easily. That’s what Pilkan liked about him.

There were burns on Cassian’s hands by the time he slid out of the grate into the sewers beneath the Republican base. Sweat drenched his clothes, and he desperately needed water. The sewers smelled of feces and decay. Local fauna often died down here.

Cassian covered his nose with his sweat-soaked sleeve and trotted through the tunnels. The grates above offered light from two moons in the night sky. He eventually came to an opening at the end of the sewers a mile or so away from the base where Myka waited. Her white braids seemed to glow in the moonlight as she hoisted him up by a rope. She sat him between her legs on her hover-bike and drove off between a mass of trees.

Dread twisted in Cassian’s gut when Myka asked, “So what did you hear, Cassie?”

“Classified,” he answered, as he’d heard several intelligence officers say before. When she arched a brow, he hunched over to avoid her stare. “I want to talk to Pilkan.”

“You can say anything to me that you can say to my father.”

He didn’t reply. She didn’t press him any further. After a few minutes, his eyelids grew too heavy to keep open. An instant later, he woke with a start in Myka’s arms. She carried him down a set of white stairs.

“We’re back,” she said in much too cheery a voice. It didn’t match how Cassian felt.

He twisted in her arms until she set him on the stairs. He clambered down them until he reached the main room of the base. Displays of various planets and plans of attack covered the walls.

Pilkan stood by a console, staring at a star chart with several red dots over it. He jumped when Cassian ran to him and hugged his leg. “Cassian?” he said curiously and petted the six-year-old’s head with his metal hand. “You’re back rather late.”

Cassian’s lower lip trembled as he looked up at his captain. Pilkan had kind, brown eyes and a bushy, gray beard that hid the lower half of his face. Lines of worry set between his brows.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “What have you heard?”

Cassian opened his mouth to answer when a deep voice said, “What’re you doing on Pilkan’s leg, little guy?”

Cassian looked around Pilkan to see Chir step out of the door leading to the bed spaces. Chir’s red hair hung messily around his face, as if he’d just rolled out of bed. He held a cup of caf in his hands. Cassian’s chest constricted when Chir smiled at him—a charming smile that had once made Cassian feel safe.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Chir asked, tone light, but his smile vanished when Cassian didn’t answer. “Oh…I see. That complicates things.” There was only a second between when he reached for his blaster and when he raised it toward Myka who stood frozen across the room. In the next second, Cassian took Pilkan’s blaster and fired a single shot. It hit Chir squarely in the chest.

He collapsed to the floor. Pilkan took back his blaster and squeezed off two more shots. One caught Chir’s stomach; the other, his head. Blood crept over the floor. Cassian squeezed his eyes shut and balled his hands into fists. He’d killed Chir. He didn’t want to. He hadn’t meant to.

“Cassian.” Pilkan’s soft voice made Cassian open his eyes again. The old captain crouched down.

“I’m sorry,” Cassian mumbled. “I didn’t mean to… I didn’t…” Tears streamed from his eyes, and he hiccupped.

Pilkan gripped Cassian’s shoulders. “You did the right thing. Myka’s alive because of you.”

Cassian wrapped his arms around Pilkan’s neck and sobbed. Pilkan rubbed his back.

“Sometimes we must kill, Cassian,” Pilkan murmured. “It’ll become easier.”

Cassian didn’t want it to be easy.

#

_12 BBY…_

The water burned as it invaded her nose and seared down the back of her throat. Her heart beat too fast. She could hear the rapid beeps on the monitor beside her. They pushed the board forward. The water disappeared, as well as the cloth on her face. She coughed harshly, but her lungs still felt full of fluid. Two boys stood by her, holding up the board she was strapped to. They were part of Saw’s team. She didn’t know if Saw really ordered this, but it wouldn’t have surprised her if he had.

“How much longer are we going to do this?” she rasped, throat raw from the ice cold water.

The boys glanced at each other uneasily. They didn’t want to waterboard her, but they had orders.

“Sorry, sis,” one said. “We have to keep doing it until your heartrate stays level.”

She grimaced and coughed some more. They waited a while until her heartbeat dipped below 100 before putting the damp cloth over her face again and tipping her back. Somehow it was easier this time around. Why struggle? She’d either panic and keep doing this or surrender and get it over with.

The water still burned, but her heartrate stayed below 100. She didn’t thrash. She had to be strong for Saw. She needed to be able to endure torture.

Her eighth birthday was next week. She had to grow up strong.

#

_0 BBY…_

In truth, Cassian had difficulty reading about Jyn Erso. She was born on the Outer Rim, like him. Vallt was even an ice planet like his homeworld, Fest. Her mother, Lyra, gave birth to her in a Separatist prison. After her father defected, their family hid on Lah’mu. There wasn’t much else after that, but the few sentences made his stomach twist with recognition.

She started working for Saw Gerrera at seven. Her role in his faction was a mystery. The accounts of the years following were scattered and varied. Most indicated she’d left Saw around 3272 LY and took on smuggling and thieving—a waste of her talents.

He’d managed to piece together some information about her whereabouts from various contacts. It seemed she was going by Liana Hallik now. She’d gotten arrested after blowing up an Imperial ship and stealing a hefty arsenal. Cassian might have smiled when he read that, while “Liana” had been captured, the weapons were nowhere to be found.

Her ability to forge Imperial documents was truly impressive. The only reason he’d found her was because she’d saved a cat from a couple ‘troopers and given her real name to the owner—a little girl who’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It had been easy after that to track down a troublemaking woman of her description.

Draven had deployed a team to break her out of Wobani—though Cassian suspected she didn’t need the help, what with how many times she’d broken out of prison. He’d had a couple days to rest while they retrieved her, but he’d spent it going over as many files as he could get his hands on about her, Saw Gerrera, and her father. It was scarce and sometimes contradicting. All three of them kept their secrets close to them. Cassian was surprised he’d been able to dig up as much as he had on Jyn. He wondered just how much of it was accurate.

“Cassian.”

Mothma’s voice on his comm made him jump. He set his tablet aside and pulled the receiver from a pocket of his jacket.

“What do you need, ma’am?” he asked into it.

“Erso is here.”

He sat up quickly, nearly knocking his head on the bunk above him. “I’ll be right there.”

“Good. Out.” The comm clicked out of connection, and he stood swiftly.

Who was Jyn Erso really?

#

“You’re currently calling yourself Liana Hallik,” Draven said. “Is that correct?”

Jyn resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the obvious assertion. She’d expected Saw to send his men to get her, not the Alliance. Not that it mattered. Both would kill her if she gave them a reason.

When Jyn didn’t answer Draven, he continued, “Possession of unsanctioned weapons, forgery of Imperial documents, aggravated assault, escape from custody, resisting arrest.”

If he intended to go through her entire rap sheet, they were going to be here for a very, very long time.

“Imagine if the Imperial authorities had found out who you really were…Jyn Erso. That is your given name, is it not? Jyn Erso, daughter of Galen Erson—a known Imperial collaborator in weapons development?”

A sarcastic “gasp” shot through her head. Liana Hallik was a simple thief. Jyn Erso was a rebel. She wouldn’t be here if he thought she was really Liana Hallik. His dramatic reveal was thoroughly unimpressive.

Her eyes stayed on him since she was curious as to what he wanted from her, but she was more interested in the man leaning against a display screen to the side, face half hidden in the dark. Everything about him screamed “spy.” No ordinary soldier would stand partly in the dark, making himself blend in with the background while still being visible. He was the one who had all the information on her, not Draven.

A woman in white that Jyn could only assume was Mon Mothma stepped up to the console.

“What is this?” Jyn demanded, impatient and fed up with Draven.

Mothma let out a breath. “It’s a chance for you to make a fresh start.”

Jyn almost laughed at that. She’d had a fresh start once and that ended in losing the two people she loved like family. There was no “fresh start” for her. That hope had died long ago.

“We think you might be able to help us,” Mothma said, and then turned to the man who’d been quiet this whole time. “This is Captain Cassian Andor, Rebel Intelligence.”

Called it. He was a spy.

Cassian stepped out of the darkness, arms folded over his chest. His straight-backed posture and guarded stance indicated he meant to be intimidating. He might have been if Jyn hadn’t dealt with two thousand men like him. At least, his face was nice to look at.

“When was the last time you were in contact with your father?” he asked gruffly.

She stared wordlessly for a moment, assessing him and weighing her options. There was no reason to lie, other than to be an asshole, which she wasn’t opposed to. But maybe they’d let her go if they realized her knowledge about her father was useless.

“Fifteen years ago,” she answered.

“Any idea where he’s been all that time?” Cassian pressed.

She wasn’t quite sure how to answer that question. “I like to think he’s dead—makes things easier.”

Draven cast a withering glance at Mothma. Cassian’s expression hardened. Apparently, they didn’t like that answer.

“Easier than what?” Cassian’s voice dropped to a growl. “That he’s been a tool of the Imperial war machine?”

The rebel jargon fell so easily off his tongue that it felt nostalgic to Jyn. “I’ve never had the luxury of political opinions.” Those got people killed.

That seemed to trigger something in Cassian. “Really?” He sounded indignant. “When was your last contact with Saw Gerrera?”

She stared him down. What did Saw have to do with this? “It’s been a long time,” she said after a lengthy pause.

Cassian nodded, never breaking eye contact, as if he anticipated her every word. “He’d remember you, though, wouldn’t he? He might agree to meet you, if you came as a friend.”

Considering he’d left her to die at the hands of Imperial troops when she was sixteen, she doubted any friendliness Saw might have had for her. Sometimes she resented that she still thought of him fondly.

Draven was sitting in a chair now, impatience in his eyes. “We’re up against the clock here, girl, so if there’s nothing to talk about, we’ll just put you back where we found you.”

Wobani seemed less appealing with her exit strategy out the window at this point. She didn’t know if she could escape before one of the Imperials or another prisoner killed her. “I was a child,” she said heatedly, irritated by their persistence. “Saw Gerrera saved my life. He raised me, but I’ve no idea where he is. I haven’t seen him in years.”

“We know how to find him,” Cassian said. “That’s not our problem. What we need is someone who gets us through the door without being killed.”

Everyone wanted to use her. It had been that way since she was seven and joined the Rebellion. She couldn’t help the flippant way she said, “You’re all rebels, aren’t you?”

Mothma frowned. “Yes, but Saw Gerrera is an extremist. He’s been fighting on his own since he broke with the Rebellion. His militancy has caused the Alliance a great many problems.” She exchanged a meaningful glance with Draven before continuing. “We have no choice now, but to try and mend that broken trust.”

That was all fine and well, but Jyn was still missing something. “What does this have to do with my father?”

Draven and Mothma exchanged another meaningful glance, but they didn’t answer. That privilege went to Cassian.

“There’s an Imperial defector in Jedha—a pilot. He’s been held by Saw Gerrera. He’s claiming the Emperor is creating a weapon…with the power to destroy entire planets.”

_Well…kriff._ She’d known her father had been involved with weapons development for the Empire before he knew the truth of what he was doing. If Krennic had him doing this now…

“The pilot says he was sent by your father,” Cassian added when Jyn didn’t respond.

She looked up at him, hope sparking in her at the words. She clamped it down immediately. Hope would just end in heartbreak.

“We need to stop this weapon before it is finished,” Mothma pressed.

Draven stood. “Captain Andor’s mission is to authenticate the pilot’s story, and then, if possible, find your father.”

Mothma nodded. “It appears he is critical to the development of this…super weapon. Given the gravity of the situation and your history with Saw, we’re hoping that he will help us locate your father and return him to the Senate for testimony.”

A man stepped out from the dark, presumably a senator. He stared at her expectantly.

Jyn knew she would agree to their request. It was a chance to find her father, after all these years, but she had to resist for another minute. “And if I do it?”

“We’ll make sure you go free,” Mothma said.

Jyn glanced around at all the eyes on her. Wobani was only slightly less appealing.


	3. Chapter 3

_6 BBY…_

Jyn hated dresses. They were hard to maneuver in and heavy and bulky. But this was part of the mission. She danced on black heels across a ballroom floor. Her black dress hugged her figure down to her hips, and then loosened around her legs. A long slit went up one side, all the way to her mid-thigh. People moved around her to the moderately paced waltz music drifting through the air. Crystal chandeliers hung overhead, casting warm light through the room. People much older than herself chatted at the edges of the ballroom or danced over the floor.

Her dancing partner was some councilman or other on this blighted planet. He must have been three times her age, with a shriveled face and shriveled hands and probably a shriveled dick. The lust in his eyes as they turned across the floor made it all the more tempting to pull out the blaster strapped to her thigh and rid Worlport of him. But she had her mission.

The Partisans needed the governor’s plans concerning the latest shipment of munitions off Ord Mantell, and said governor was hosting a masque tonight. Saw hadn’t wanted to send her in, but they hadn’t had much of a choice. Most everyone in the Partisans was too scarred and too roughened to play a high-class courtesan. Jyn may have only been fifteen, but she’d already grown into the body of a woman. None of the others could manipulate like she could. Her ability to change her accent and mannerisms had gotten her out of many a close call before. So in she went, with a gold bird mask across her eyes and a pound of makeup to conceal her face.

The song ended, and Jyn quickly disentangled herself from the councilman with an excuse about using the restroom. She waded through the crowd as straight-backed as she could. The knife wrapped in her hair seemed to grow heavier while she headed toward a man in a black suit with a red sash over his chest.

“Governor Iridil,” she greeted when she came up to him. “I wanted to thank you for inviting me. Tonight has been simply splendid.”

He smiled politely. His dark eyes held no warmth. She could almost see the gears turning in his head trying to figure out who she was.

“It’s my pleasure,” he said after a moment and took her hand to kiss it. “Forgive me, but I do not recognize you with your mask on.”

She giggled. “Oh, my apologies. Lyra Rallik. I’m an investor in the Empire’s weapons development in Imperial City.”

He seemed to accept the lie and nodded. “You’re doing important work. The rebels are getting out of hand these days.”

“Oh, yes. Simply dreadful. They’re like cockroaches in the City.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you about your munitions manufacturing. A friend of mine is looking to invest in our business, but I think he could do the most good supporting your efforts here in Worlport. The more we can invest in the security of our exports from rebels, the better.”

The governor had a real smile. “Really? Well, Miss Rallik, I would love to speak with you more about it later tonight, if you’ll be around still.”

“Of course.” She offered a sweet smile. “And please call me Lyra.”

He inclined his head. “Very well…Lyra.”

“And who is this?” an unfamiliar voice said.

She turned to see a man in a black wolf mask come up to them. It only covered the top half of his face, leaving a stubble-covered jaw exposed. His black suit and blue sash indicated he was in government. Brown eyes stared at her from behind the mask, sharper than a regular man’s should be.

“This is Miss Lyra Rallik,” the governor introduced. “She’s an investor from Imperial City.”

The man took her hand as he bowed. His lips were soft on the back of her hand. “Lovely to meet you, Miss Rallik. I am Willix Carida, Head of Government Security.”

She scrutinized him, her senses telling her that something was off. “Well met, Mister Carida.”

“Miss Rallik was just telling me about a potential investment in security around Worlport,” the governor said.

“Really?” Willix had a smile that didn’t touch his eyes. In fact, it almost seemed predatory. “I would like to speak more about it, Miss Rallik. Care to dance and humor my inquiries?”

Kriff, it’d look strange if she refused. “Certainly, Mister Carida.”

He led her out onto the floor again as another song started. She kept herself relaxed and composed when he took her hand and pulled her closer. Just what was his goal?

“So which program do you invest in?” he asked.

So she was to be interrogated. Two could play at that game. “Planetary Defense and Kyber Research. How did someone so young come to be the Head of Government Security?”

He had that predatory smile again. “It helps to have friends in high places. I’m sure you know what I mean.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps, Mister Carida.”

He spun her out, and then back in. They came chest to chest. “You have quite a lovely hairpin, Miss Rallik.”

“Why, thank you.” She’d decorated the hilt of her knife with fake flowers, so it wouldn’t look suspicious sticking out of her hair. “I like your broach.” She could feel the wires where their chests touched. The broach connected to something hidden in his blazer. It was likely a microphone.

They pulled apart enough to continue turning across the dance floor. He twirled her under his arm. “You seem quite young yourself, Miss Rallik.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, sir.” She stepped away as soon as the song ended. “I have others I would like to speak with, but thank you for the dance, Mister Carida.”

He bowed stiffly. “The pleasure was all mine.”

They walked away. For the rest of the night, they stayed on opposite ends of the room, chatting with people, but their gazes always found each other. Jyn suspected he was an undercover agent with a rebel group, probably the Alliance if he’d infiltrated this high up into Ord Mantell’s government.

When guests began to leave, the governor found Jyn and brought her to his study. The room was large and filled with displays of Imperial stations across the sector. She made note of the ones she hadn’t known about.

A round console stood in the center of the room. Jyn stood behind the governor as he input his password into the console. A 3-D star chart lit up in the middle. The blue and white lights displayed the entirety of the sector. She pulled the blaster from her thigh and let off a shot in the governor’s head before he turned around. His body fell to the floor. Blood soaked into the plush, blue carpet.

She strapped the blaster to her thigh again and searched through the console files until she found the itinerary for the latest off-world shipments. There was also information about weapons research that she downloaded onto the drive she’d stuffed in her bra. The upload was almost complete when the door opened. She took out her blaster and fired through the wood. A body thudded to the ground.

The upload finished. She stuck the drive into her bra and headed for the door. A pair of lifeless, green eyes stared up at her. The woman wore a maid’s uniform. She’d probably just come in to clean. Instead, she’d died.

Guilt tangled around Jyn’s heart. The maid would have seen too much, possibly even alerted security. Jyn couldn’t have let her live. But that didn’t stop the shame.

“Did you get what you came for?”

She jumped and looked past the door. Willix stood in the shadow of a column further down the dimly lit hall. He still had his mask on. Jyn pulled the knife from her hair and stepped past the maid.

“Maybe,” she answered. “Are you going to stop me from leaving?”

He folded his arms over his chest. “I doubt I could.” He jerked his head toward a door down the hall. “That leads to the back stairs, which will take you to the gardens outside. I think you can handle the rest.”

She sheathed her knife in her hair again as she walked past him. “Thanks for the tip.”

“The Alliance could use someone like you.”

“I’m sure they could.” She stopped at the door and looked at him over her shoulder. “Good evening, Mister Carida.”

A corner of his lips turned up as he inclined his head. “Miss Rallik.”

#

_0 BBY…_

Cassian was certain of two things: Jyn had training as a spy, and she had no problem letting him know that. The way she’d looked at him while he’d asked her questions, as if she could see every twisted thing inside him, was unnerving. She walked with silent footsteps. It betrayed her years of practice in stealth as much as the way she scanned her environment—assessing, analyzing, planning. But the coldness that came with being a rebel spy didn’t show in her eyes. No, when she looked at him, it was with fire.

“Captain Andor.”

He turned away from his ship. Draven approached from the hangar. Other rebels preparing for flight glanced at them curiously, but continued on with their work. Cassian headed over to the general. Jyn brought her things to the ship.

“I know what Mothma’s instructions were,” Draven said quietly, “but Galen Erso is vital to the Empire’s weapons program. Forget what you heard in there. There will be no extraction. You find him. You kill him.”

Cassian’s stomach turned, but he nodded.

“Then and there,” Draven added, as if he hadn’t given Cassian these orders a hundred times.

Jyn was rifling through her belongings when Cassian returned to his ship. He didn’t want to look at her, so he immediately went to the console at the helm.

“You met K-2?” he asked. The security droid ran checks at the helm to prepare for flight.

“Charming,” Jyn said sarcastically. He wasn’t sure if she was talking about K-2 or his attempt at small talk.

Cassian took his jacket from a rack on the wall and pulled it on. “He tends to say whatever comes into his circuits. It’s a byproduct of the reprogram.”

K-2SO turned to him from the co-pilot’s seat. “Why does she get a blaster, and I don’t?”

Cassian immediately spun toward Jyn. “What?”

She did indeed have a blaster in her hands. “I know how to use it,” she said with a shrug.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” He’d read her files. He knew what she could do with that. “Give it to me.” He extended a hand.

She looked thoroughly unimpressed and unafraid of him. “We’re going to Jedha. That’s a war zone.”

He dropped his hand and shook his head. “That’s not the point. Where’d you get it?”

“I found it.” She didn’t even try to conceal the lie. Her hands were deft. She’d probably lifted it off one of the rebels, which was actually shocking considering the low number of people they’d come in contact with between the council room and the ship.

“I find that answer vague and unconvincing,” K-2SO commented.

Cassian tried not to be impressed by her yet again. He failed. All he could do was stare at her. If she’d lifted a blaster and then not used it on him this entire time, maybe she had no intention of killing him…yet.

“Trust goes both ways,” she said. They were calculated words that came from the mouth of an experienced manipulator. Her eyes seemed to dare him to say otherwise.

He glanced at the blaster, then her. They both knew how this would go. He sat in the pilot’s seat, uncomfortably aware of the fully trained rebel with a blaster behind him.

“You’re letting her keep it?” K-2SO said in disbelief. “Would you like to know the probability of her using it against you?” When Cassian didn’t answer, the droid muttered, “It’s high.”

“Let’s get going,” Cassian said, not hiding his exasperation.

“It’s very high.”

They took off.

Cassian wasn’t dead an hour into their flight, so maybe Jyn really didn’t intend to kill him anytime soon. He was more shocked to see her sleeping when he turned to check on her. She sat in a seat along the wall, head resting against the side of it. He could have easily done something terrible to her now. She would have known that.

_Trust goes both ways_.

Had she actually meant that as an offer of faith, not a calculated phrase? Maybe she was just faking being asleep. No, that wasn’t true. Her face was scrunched up with the pain of a nightmare. She was really asleep.

What a strange woman.

#

Jyn woke with a start, the remnants of bad memories still playing in her head. She had that feeling again—that feeling that something was about to happen. Time would tell if it was good or bad.

She lifted the kyber crystal hanging on her neck. Her mother had such faith in the Force—in the Jedi. Jyn had only been to the Holy City a couple times in her life and never for nice reasons. She wanted to go once to explore, without shady business, just to see what her mother was so passionate about. It seemed she’d never get the opportunity.

“We’re coming into orbit,” Cassian said to K-2SO. “You have the controls.”

Jyn stuffed her necklace into her shirt. Cassian stepped out of the pilot’s seat and went to the selection of gear on the wall. She straightened her shirt and laced her boots. Jedha was visible out the window. Its atmosphere glowed in the light of its sun.

“That’s Jedha,” Cassian said as he came toward her. “Or what’s left of it.”

She stared out the window wordlessly, wondering what her mother would say if she was the one looking down on the moon. Cassian went to the back of the ship, still talking. Jyn didn’t listen. He was one of those people who couldn’t stop to appreciate anything. All he cared about was his mission and fighting for the cause, heedless of the toll on him. Saw and Cassian would have gotten along in a different life. But she kept that observation to herself.

K-2SO took them down. Jyn geared up before they touched the ground. Cassian said something about inspecting the city, and then they went out to the cliffs. The dirt and sand crunched beneath their boots. Cold air, dry enough to cause nosebleeds, blew past them. Jyn looked across the valley between them and the city. A star destroyer hovered over it.

“What’s with the destroyer?” Jyn asked as she crouched beside Cassian.

He’d set his bag down and lay on his stomach with his binoculars. “It’s because of your old friend, Saw Gerrera. He’s been attacking the cargo shipments.”

Her brows furrowed. “What are they bringing in?”

“It’s ‘What are they taking out?’” He handed her the binoculars. When she looked through them at the cargo shuttles, he continued, “Kyber crystal. All they can get. We wondered why they were stripping the temple. Now we know. It’s the fuel for the weapon.”

She lowered the binoculars. Kyber powered the Jedi lightsabers. That’s what her father had said, anyway. With so much of it, they could cause massive destruction.

“The weapon your father’s building,” K-2SO said as he came up from behind.

Jyn cast a withering look at the droid. “Maybe we should leave target practice behind.”

“Are you talking about me?” K-2SO asked indignantly.

“She’s right,” Cassian said. “We need to blend in. Stay with the ship.”

“I can blend in. I’m an Imperial droid. This city is under Imperial occupation.”

Jyn shook her head. “Half the people here want to reprogram you. The other half want to put a hole in your head.” She hadn’t known it was possible for a droid to look miffed until then.

He tilted his head slightly, and his chest pushed out. “I’m surprised you’re so concerned with my safety.”

She picked up her bag and stood. “I’m not. I’m just worried they might miss you and hit me.” She pushed the bag into his hands and walked away.

When Cassian followed her, she swore she heard K-2SO quietly mutter, “Doesn’t sound so bad to me.”

“Do you have to antagonize him?” Cassian asked when they headed down a slope.

Jyn tossed him a wry look over her shoulder. “He did bruise several of my ribs on Wobani during your so-called ‘rescue mission.’”

Cassian matched her pace beside her. “So we should have left you there?”

“I had a plan.”

He scoffed. “A plan? What plan? Nobody gets off Wobani.”

She could have. “Xeem Paran did.”

His steps faltered a moment before he righted himself. “How did you know that?”

“Because I let him out.” She smirked when he stopped walking altogether. It took a couple seconds until he caught up with her again.

“He said the door to his cell malfunctioned.” Cassian sounded genuinely perplexed.

“I did not bribe three guards and hack four different locks, so you could tell me his cell door actually malfunctioned.” She shook her head. “I told him not to tell anyone that I was in Wobani for the express purpose of not having the Rebellion come looking for me again. And you found me anyway.”

Cassian had a smug smile. “If it’s any consolation, you were hard to find.”

“Not hard enough.”

They made it to the base of the cliffs. A path led toward the valley. Jyn’s boots sunk into the sand as she trekked with Cassian toward the city. He pushed his hair back when the wind whipped it into his eyes.

“Why did you leave Saw anyway, if you’re so keen on saving rebels still?” he asked.

She scowled. “I didn’t leave Saw. _He_ left _me_.”

Cassian abruptly grabbed her shoulder to stop her. “What do you mean? If he doesn’t think of you as a friend, then—”

“Relax.” She shrugged out of his grip. “I don’t know his reasons for abandoning me, but if Saw really wanted me dead, he would have killed me himself, not left me to the Imperials.”

Cassian searched her eyes a moment, lips pressed together grimly. “What happened?”

She sighed and continued down the path again. Cassian kept close to her side. He stared at her expectantly. After a minute, she sighed again and muttered, “I don’t know what happened. We were scouting an old munitions factory on Tamsye Prime. Things went south when one of our own betrayed us. We managed to escape the trap, but the Imperials were still on us. Saw stuck me in an old turret with a blaster, and that was the last I saw of him. That was about five years ago.”

Cassian frowned. “Why would he do that? You would have been…sixteen.”

Her chest tightened at the memory of Saw’s back disappearing into the distance while she clutched her blaster to her chest. “Like I said, I don’t know his reasons.” She picked up her pace. “But I’m going to find out.”


	4. Chapter 4

“I had a contact,” Cassian explained as they wound through the streets of Jedha, “one of Saw’s rebels, but he’s just gone missing. His sister will be looking for him.”

Jyn glanced up at him. He wouldn’t look at her. The image of Tivik dead on the ground kept running through his head. They walked beneath an archway, dodging crowds of people. Vendors called out. Customers haggled with them. Dust and dirt filled the air.

“The temple’s been destroyed,” Cassian continued, “but she’ll be there, waiting. We’ll give her your name and hope that gets us a meeting with Saw.”

Jyn halted. He took a step more before stopping and looking down at her in confusion.

“Hope?” she said in disbelief, almost mockingly.

“Yeah.” He offered a wry smile. “Rebellions are built on hope.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but they continued on. Stormtroopers indiscriminately harassed people behind them, demanding identification that wouldn’t matter to them in the least.

“Is this all because of your pilot?” Jyn asked, glancing back at the ‘troopers.

Cassian didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

They rounded a corner down another street that led to the gates of the ruined temple. Cassian stopped Jyn and muttered, “Wait for me.” He continued down to where one of his contacts waited near the wall of the temple.

“You’re a busy man, Cassian,” Garad said. He was a big man with a beard almost as voluminous as his belly.

“Where’s Tivik’s sister?” Cassian asked, a bad feeling turning in his gut.

Garad glanced at Jyn who was talking with a couple Guardians. “The Imperials know we have the pilot. They’re launching a full-scale attack. We’re going to ambush them before they try. I suggest you get out while you can.”

Cassian immediately headed back. “Jyn!” he called out.

She turned from the Guardian she was speaking with. He was blind.

“Come on,” Cassian urged when Jyn didn’t move. “Let’s go.”

Jyn glanced back at the Guardian before heading to Cassian.

“The strongest stars have hearts of kyber,” the Guardian said, making Jyn pause again.

Cassian was losing his patience. “Let’s go!” When she walked with him, he muttered, “We’re not here to make friends.”

“Who are they?” she asked.

He put a hand on her back to keep her close as they pushed through the crowd. “The Guardians of the Whills, protectors of the kyber temple, but there’s nothing left to protect. So now, they’re just causing trouble for everybody.” His eyes darted between the faces of the people around him as he spoke, looking for danger.

Jyn scrutinized him. “You seem awfully tense all of a sudden.”

They paused at an intersection. Cassian glanced around them uneasily. “We have to hurry. This town is ready to blow.”

They barely got three steps before they saw the tank. Stormtroopers surrounded it, heading into the heart of the city. Propaganda about the greatness of the Empire played over their speakers. Some very bad words shot through Cassian’s head. Jyn looked up. Cassian followed her gaze to a rooftop. One of Saw’s men stood there, partly hidden behind a broken wall. He looked around to the other buildings. More men lined up along the rooftops.

“Well…kriff,” Jyn mumbled. “Tell me you have a backup plan.”

He met her gaze, knowing full well that they were about to get caught up in a firefight. Cassian saw the grenade fall in front of the tank and pushed Jyn behind him. Their mission would be for nothing if she died. The grenade went off, stopping the tank. Blasters immediately started firing. Jyn grabbed Cassian and yanked him back. They ran for cover in an archway, blasters out and ready.

“Looks like we found Saw’s rebels,” Jyn muttered, casting him a look that said she was not impressed with his planning skills thus far.

Cassian briefly considered leaving her here. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that he needed her to get to Saw. But it was still very, very tempting.

The fight raged. A child’s cries broke through the sound of blasters. Jyn immediately got up and looked over the carnage. The child stood near the tank, a plushy toy in her hand. Jyn sprinted for her.

“Jyn, no!” Cassian called out, but she was already in the middle of the fight.

A grenade went off just as Jyn grabbed the girl. Sparks and shrapnel went flying. Cassian leaned into cover before it sprayed at him. When he looked over again, Jyn was on the ground, protecting the girl with her body. The mother stumbled up to them, sobbing and frantic. She took the girl.

Cassian heard the whir of turrets powering up a second later. “Get out of there!”

The tank fired a shot at a building, sending it crashing down. Cassian aimed and shot the gunner at the top. Jyn took cover behind a wagon. One of Saw’s men on the rooftop lifted a grenade. He was going to throw it right on Jyn. Cassian didn’t hesitate to shoot the rebel down. The grenade exploded upon impact with the ground, away from Jyn.

She looked over at Cassian. He headed for the main road out, now that it was clear. She sprinted from cover to catch up with him. Explosions sounded behind them as they ran under bolts of red. One landed close enough to knock them forward.

They looked back. Saw’s men took the kyber cells from the tank. Jyn pushed Cassian up. They had to get to cover. An AT-RT blocked off the main road, so they headed down an alleyway. Cassian rounded the corner, only to come face-to-face with a ‘trooper. He let off a shot before the ‘trooper did. And then, of course, about a dozen more flooded the alleyway.

Cassian bolted the other way. “This way!” he yelled to Jyn when he passed her. More ‘troopers blocked their path. She followed him, then turned around a corner into cover. He fired back at the ‘troopers.

“Cassian!” she called and waved for him to get into cover. He darted behind a wall.

They were pinned down with both their routes blocked. _Kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff…_

The familiar sound of a truncheon unfolding passed his ears. He turned around the corner, prepared to fire. Jyn darted out, slammed her baton into a ‘trooper’s head, and then his gut. Without missing a beat, she swung down at another ‘trooper, knocking him to the ground. Another lunged for her. She swept his legs out from under him and slammed the truncheon down on his back.

A pair of ‘troopers came from further down the alley. She lifted her blaster and let off two shots that downed both of them. The ‘trooper in front of her started to rise. She struck his head with her truncheon. He crumpled to the ground. A security droid stomped up to her. She spun around and shot its chest. The droid’s eye lights flickered before it dropped with a heavy thud.

K-2SO appeared behind the droid. “Did you know that wasn’t me?”

“Yeah…of course,” she lied unconvincingly.

Cassian gaped at her and what she’d done for a moment. So he might have been a little impressed. Or a lot impressed…and feeling something else that would get him castrated if she found out.

He cleared his throat and muttered, “I thought I told you to stay on the ship, K.”

K-2SO gave a flippant toss of his head. “You did. But I thought it was boring, and you were in trouble.”

A ‘trooper Jyn hadn’t quite knocked out tossed a grenade. K-2SO caught it.

“There were a lot of explosions,” he said, “for two people blending in.”

Jyn and Cassian backed away until the droid carelessly tossed the grenade into the team of ‘troopers that flooded into the alley. They went flying in an explosion of dirt and sparks.

K-2SO stepped past Jyn and Cassian. “You’re right. I should just wait on the ship.”

“Cassian, did you program him to be this sassy?” Jyn asked.

Cassian shrugged helplessly. “He’s just like that.”

K-2SO looked between the two of them. “I take it the mission is going well.”

Cassian sighed and headed down an alley. The path led out into the remnants of a courtyard, which was filled with stormtroopers. They all had their backs turned, so Jyn and Cassian slowly turned away and—

“Halt. Stop right there.”

#

Jyn was going to die here with a rebel spy who couldn’t plan and a sassy Imperial droid who couldn’t shut up. She turned around slowly with Cassian and K-2SO to face a ‘trooper.

“Where are you taking these prisoners?” the ‘trooper asked.

K-2SO paused, then said haltingly, “These are prisoners.”

“Yes, where are you taking them?” The ‘trooper sounded impatient now.

“I am taking them to imprison them…in prison.”

Yep, Jyn was going to die here.

“He’s taking us to—” Cassian was cut off by K-2SO hitting him in the face. Jyn struggled to keep a straight face. That smack almost made the trip here worth it. Almost.

“Quiet!” K-2SO ordered.

Cassian covered his cheek gingerly and stared up at his droid in shock. Jyn bowed her head, so her hair would conceal the smile she couldn’t hold back.

“And there’s a fresh one if you mouth off again.”

The ‘trooper looked between them and waved at a team. “We’ll take them from here.”

K-2SO stepped closer to Cassian and Jyn. “That’s okay. If you could just point me in the right direction, I can take them, I’m sure.”

A pair of ‘troopers came up and put shackles around Jyn’s and Cassian’s wrists. “Wait, wait,” Jyn said as Cassian stammered out, “No, hold on.” They were led away. K-2SO argued, but it was futile.

Jyn started looking for things to use as a weapon when a familiar voice said, “Let them pass in peace.”

The ‘troopers paused. Jyn looked up. The blind Guardian she’d spoken with earlier descended a set of steps into the courtyard. He held his staff out in front of him.

“Let them pass in peace,” he repeated. “The Force is with me, and I am with the Force. And I fear nothing, for all is as the Force wills it.”

The ‘troopers ordered him to stop, but he didn’t. They raised their blasters. He paused and turned his head slightly, listening. Jyn lunged forward when the first shot fired, but the Guardian sidestepped it. The bolt hit the ‘trooper behind him. Several more lasers went off. The Guardian seemed to dance out of their paths. Two ricocheted and hit the ‘troopers holding Jyn and Cassian. They glanced at each other in disbelief.

“Did he…?” she started.

Cassian nodded and pulled her behind a fallen piece of building. They watched in awe as the Guardian—the _blind_ Guardian—easily took down all of the ‘troopers with just his staff. Inevitably, more came pouring in. The Guardian readied himself, but several bolts rang out. All the ‘troopers fell back.

Jyn looked across the courtyard. The other Guardian she’d seen stood with his blaster raised. He lowered it and came toward his companion, a grimace on his face.

“You almost shot me,” the blind one said.

The other Guardian’s grimace deepened. “You’re welcome.”

A ‘trooper started to rise. The Guardian shot him in the head. Jyn stepped out of cover with Cassian and K-2SO.

“Clear of hostiles,” the droid declared.

The Guardian lifted his blaster.

“One hostile!”

Jyn jumped in front of K-2SO. “He’s with us!”

The blind Guardian waved his staff carelessly. “They’re all right.” His companion lowered his blaster.

K-2SO undid Jyn’s and Cassian’s shackles, and then he headed back to the ship at Cassian’s request. Jyn’s attention went to the Guardians. Cassian asked if the blind one was a Jedi. The other Guardian rolled his eyes. The two bickered like old friends until Jyn spoke up.

“Can you get us to Saw Gerrera?”

The question seemed to pull all of Saw’s men from the shadows. Of course. They forced her hands behind her and pushed her to her knees. Cassian and the Guardians got the same treatment.

One of Saw’s men pointed out that Cassian had killed one of their own. They would kill him for it. Kriff. She had to do something.

“Anyone who kills me or my friends will answer to Saw Gerrera,” she said quickly.

The leader seemed unimpressed. “And why is that?”

She held his eyes. “Because I’m the daughter of Galen Erso.”

The leader grumbled and told his men to take them all. A bag was shoved over Jyn’s head. She distantly heard the blind Guardian mutter, “Are you kidding me? I’m blind.”

The rebels dragged her to her feet. “Cassian,” she said, hoping he was close enough to talk.

“What?” he grumbled.

“I want you to know that I blame you for all this.”

He sighed heavily. “We’re not dead, are we?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think that should be the bar for acceptable missions.”

He muttered something she couldn’t quite hear, but it didn’t sound nice. A moment later, he asked louder, “How sure are you that Saw won’t kill us all?”

She didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure at all.

He sighed again. “Great.”


	5. Chapter 5

_5 BBY…_

For his twenty-first birthday, Cassian found himself at the bottom of a ditch, bleeding out of a hole in his abdomen. Happy birthday to him.

Rain fell steadily from the overcast sky. The smell of mud was oddly calming. It reminded him of the days he spent in the underground bases during the Clone Wars. With every passing second, his eyelids grew heavier. Maybe he’d die here. Wouldn’t that be something? There were worse ways to go. He could have died in a bomb blast like Pilkan or tortured to death like Myka. He could have been shot down like Kax. He could have been torn to pieces like Ayu.

He’d seen so many of his friends die. Maybe it was his time to go.

“Andor!”

The sound of his name pulled his eyes up to the top of the ditch. Trada, one of his team, slid down the ditch to him. She was covered in blood, but knowing Trada, most of it probably wasn’t hers. Her short, black hair was heavy with rain.

“What are you doing here?” he rasped, pushing out the words since his lungs didn’t want to work correctly. “It’s not safe.”

“I couldn’t leave you out here.” She lifted him into her arms. It took her several tries to scale the muddy wall of the ditch with him, but she managed. He was dimly aware of blaster fire and the trees passing them as she ran.

“Just leave me,” he heard himself say. She stood a better chance of escaping without him.

She shook her head and didn’t slow. The blaster fire grew louder and louder until he saw a flash of red fly by them. Another blast sounded just before she cried out, and they tumbled to the ground. She crawled over him protectively. He felt her tense when the next shot echoed off the trees. Warmth seeped between them. He wasn’t sure if it was her blood or his.

“Trada,” he murmured, “leave me. That’s an order.”

She smiled sadly. “Sorry, sarge. I’m not going anywhere. The Rebellion needs you.”

The next shot skimmed her shoulder. Panic seized Cassian. He tried to push her off, but she wouldn’t budge.

“I’m expendable,” she rasped. “You’re not.”

“No one is expendable,” he hissed and pushed at her shoulder again.

The next shot went through her chest and grazed his shoulder. She dipped her head beside his and whispered against his ear, “It’s been an honor serving with you, sir.”

He wasn’t sure if it was rain in his eyes or tears. She went limp atop him. Her last breath brushed his ear. His eyes closed. The footfalls of ‘troopers passed by him, probably assuming they were both dead. The sound of blasters firing rang out again. One of his team called out orders. Trada had carried him back over to rebel territory—at the cost of her own life.

His arms were leaden, but he managed to wrap them around her cooling body. No one was expendable.

#

_0 BBY…_

Chirrut, the blind Guardian, was praying. Cassian wondered how blasphemous it would be to tell a Guardian to shut up.

“You pray?” the other Guardian said in disbelief. “Really?” When Chirrut just kept praying, the Guardian scoffed. “He’s praying for the door to open.”

Chirrut stopped. “It bothers him because he knows it’s possible.”

The other Guardian chuckled mockingly.

“Baze Malbus was once the most devoted Guardian of us all,” Chirrut insisted.

Cassian crouched and looked through the picks hidden in his boot. “I’m beginning to think the Force and I have different priorities.”

“Relax, captain. We’ve been in worse cages than this one.” Chirrut did sound unusually calm, given the circumstances.

“This is a first for me.” Cassian stood with his picks.

Chirrut leaned against the wall. “There is more than one sort of prison, captain. I sense you carry yours wherever you go.”

Blue eyes, Tivik’s body, Trada’s last words, Chir’s blood—the memories shot through Cassian’s mind. He glanced at Chirrut uneasily. Baze scoffed until he saw Cassian’s face. There was guilt and pain written all over it, Cassian was sure.

He pushed the memories aside and looked at the panel just outside the door. Saw’s men were in the room, playing cards and drinking, but all of them were armed. They’d shoot him down before he had a chance to hack the lock. His fate rested with how well Jyn could sway Saw now.

“Who’s the one in the next cell?” Chirrut asked abruptly.

Baze’s brows furrowed. “What? Where?” He looked through the barred hole in the wall. His face darkened. “An Imperial pilot!”

Cassian’s head perked up. “Pilot?”

Baze said something about killing the pilot, so Cassian rushed over and pulled the Guardian away.

“Back off!” he growled. “Back off!”

Baze sneered at him, but went back to Chirrut’s side. Cassian crouched by the bars. The pilot sat on the floor, eyes staring at nothing.

“Are you the pilot?” Cassian asked.

The man only groaned in response.

Cassian tried again. “Hey, hey. Are you the pilot? The shuttle pilot?”

“Pilot?” the man’s voice was weak.

“What’s wrong with him?” Chirrut asked.

Cassian chewed his lip a moment in thought. “Galen Erso. You know that name?”

Something sparked in the man’s eyes. “I brought the message,” he mumbled. “I’m the pilot.” He took a breath. Life returned to his eyes when he looked at Cassian. “I’m the pilot.” He repeated himself, as if the truth of those words had just hit him.

Hope sparked in Cassian’s chest. “Okay, good. Now, where is Galen Erso?”

The pilot blinked repeatedly. “He… Eadu. I was stationed there. It’s a research station. He’s there.”

Eadu wasn’t that far. Cassian smiled. “What’s your name?”

“Bodhi. Bodhi Rook.”

“Well, Bodhi, we’re going to get out of here.”

#

Saw was just as Jyn remembered—paranoid, foolhardy, and falling to pieces. She hated the small bit of joy she felt when he smiled at her. She hated how easily she forgave him when he explained that he left her on Tamsye Prime to protect her. And she hated how she couldn’t bring herself to hate him after all he’d done.

“Not a day goes by,” he rasped, “that I don’t think of you.”

She saw a flicker of his old self, before the paranoia had set in, but it was gone in an instant.

“But today, of all days…” He trailed off, eyes hard as they fixed on her. “It’s a trap, isn’t it?” His chuckle was unhinged.

“What?” she prompted, used to his paranoid ramblings.

“The pilot!” He grinned. “The message! All of it!”

She pushed down the worry that churned in her gut when he took a breath from the ventilator strapped to his mostly robotic body.

“Did they send you?” he asked, staring at her like she’d betrayed him. Tears started in his eyes. “Did you come here to kill me? There’s not much of me left.”

By the Force’s grace. This blasted, paranoid man. “The Alliance wants my father,” she snapped. “They think he sent you a message about a weapon. I guess they think by sending me, you might actually help them out.”

“So what is it that _you_ want, Jyn?”

That gave her pause. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had asked her that. “They wanted an introduction. They’ve got it. I’m out now. Rest of you can do what you want.”

He frowned. “You care not about the cause?”

She scoffed. “The cause? Seriously? The Alliance… The rebels—whatever it is you’re calling yourselves these days—all it’s ever brought me is pain.” She thought of her mother dead in the fields of Lah’mu, of water pouring over her face, of Hadder floating in the empty vacuum of the Big Black. What more did she have to give?

Saw grimaced. “You can stand to see the Imperial flag reign across the galaxy?”

“It’s not a problem if you don’t look up.” The words felt hollow and petulant on her lips, but she was done fighting other people’s wars.

Saw stared at her a moment, guilt and grief in his eyes. “I have something to show you.”

And he did.

The message that her father sent was a holo. He was older now, but she had never forgotten his face, every line and scar etched into her mind. He spoke to her about the Death Star, about what he’d done with the Empire. He spoke about how much he missed her. She listened, and her heart grew heavier and heavier. All these years, she’d known he was alive, but seeing him now, hearing his voice… The ache in her chest that she’d tried to forget all these years overwhelmed her. Everything he’d done, he’d done for her and the Rebellion.

She didn’t know when she started crying, but once it began, she couldn’t stop.

“Think of where you are,” his image said, “my Stardust.”

He explained the trap he’d left in the Death Star. She was so focused on him that she didn’t notice the sound of the blast or the reverberations beneath her feet. The room shook. Her father’s image flickered out mid-word. She fell to her knees and tried to catch her breath.

He was alive somewhere, and he’d entrusted her with this.

Pieces of the ceiling fell. The ground rumbled beneath her. And still, she didn’t move.

“Jyn!” The voice was distant. “Jyn!”

Why would her father put this on her?

#

She was crying. He hadn’t known she could do that.

Tears ran down her cheeks. She didn’t wipe at them. In fact, she barely looked up at him when he burst into Saw Gerrera’s room. Saw moved toward Cassian, as if to stop him, but then backed off. Cassian carefully crouched beside Jyn.

“We’ve got to go,” he said quickly and took her hands. “I know where your father is.”

Light sparked in her eyes.

“Go with him, Jyn!” Saw urged. “You must go!”

Cassian pulled her up, but she resisted when he tried to lead her away.

She turned to Saw. “Come with us.”

Saw clasped her arm. “I will run no longer.”

The room was dangerously close to collapsing. Cassian tugged Jyn. “Come on.”

“You must save yourself,” Saw insisted.

“Come on!”

“Go!”

“There’s no time!” Cassian pulled Jyn away, and she went with him. They wound through the halls while Saw called out behind them to save the Rebellion. Pieces of the roof came down. Keeping even footing became more difficult as the tremors increased. Jyn and Cassian nearly faltered when they emerged outside.

The blast rose a mile overhead and kept going. Rock and ash and dust burst into the air. Saw’s men were running for their ships. The crust of the planet bent on itself like a tidal wave in an ocean. Baze led Chirrut toward Cassian’s ship when it appeared in the distance. Bodhi stood stunned. Cassian and Jyn urged him forward as they ran.

K-2SO lowered the ship just enough to get them on board. Cassian immediately took the helm and flew away from the mass of displaced rock. It curled over them, threating to crush the ship. Cassian ordered K-2SO to launch into hyperspace.

“I haven’t completed my calculations yet,” the droid protested.

“I’ll make them for you.” Cassian pushed the thrust, and the ship sped away.

He waited a few seconds before dropping out of hyperspace, just to be sure they were entirely clear. Adrenaline pounded through him, but the immediate danger was behind. He shakily leaned back in his chair and breathed.

“Where are we going?” Jyn asked.

He glanced back at her. She’d wiped the tears from her face. Now, she just looked tired.

“I don’t know,” Cassian mumbled, then glanced at the radio on the wall. “I have to report to the Alliance.” His legs shook as he stood—from exhaustion or remnants of fear, he didn’t know. He shakily typed his message into the console and pressed the headset to his ear. A minute passed until he heard the reply.

“Proceed with haste. Orders still stand. Keep to the plan.”

His stomach knotted. He couldn’t look at Jyn when he put the headset back and told K-2SO to set a course for Eadu.

And then Jyn told him about her father’s message.

“Where is it?” Cassian demanded. “Where’s the message?”

Jyn’s face fell. “It was a hologram.”

Cassian could feel his control slipping as his shame and fear turned to anger. “You have that message, right?” _It’s the only chance to save your father._

Jyn shook her head. “Everything happened so fast.”

“Did you see it?” Cassian asked Bodhi, hoping for at least a testimony to support her claim, but Bodhi shook his head.

“You don’t believe me?” Jyn prompted, her voice tight.

Believing her wasn’t enough to stop her father from dying. “I’m not the one you’ve got to convince.”

“I believe her,” said Chirrut.

Cassian stopped himself from saying bad things and bitterly muttered, “That’s good to know.”

Baze asked about the trap Galen Erso had allegedly put in this weapon. With more feeling than Cassian had ever seen from her, Jyn explained what her father had done—the failsafe he’d put in the weapon. But her word wasn’t enough, not without hard evidence.

“You need to send word to the Alliance,” she insisted.

Cassian didn’t want to think about speaking with the Alliance again. He knew Draven wouldn’t change his mind. “I’ve done that.” The words came out on an exasperated sigh.

Jyn gave him that look that made him feel smaller, like he was a six-year-old simmering in Republican ventilation shafts again. “They have to know there’s a way to destroy this thing,” she pressed. “They have to go to Scarif to get the plans.”

“I can’t risk sending that,” Cassian shot back. “We’re in the heart of Imperial territory.”

The determination on her face and the hope in her eyes overwhelmed him. She couldn’t be dissuaded. “Then we’ll find him and bring him back, and he can tell them himself.”

It wouldn’t happen. Cassian had his orders. He had a duty to the Rebellion.

Jyn sat by Bodhi when Cassian didn’t reply. “I hope Saw wasn’t too hard on you.” Her voice was gentler than Cassian had ever heard it.

Bodhi got a far-off look in his eyes. “Bor Gullet.”

“Oh.” Jyn’s face darkened. “I’m so sorry.”

“What’s Bor Gullet?” Chirrut asked.

Bodhi touched his temple. “It’s this…creature. It burrows into your mind—tears at it.” His voice shook.

Jyn squeezed his shoulder. “The headache will go away after some sleep.”

He blinked. “Have you…?”

“Saw does it to everyone.” She paused thoughtfully. “I think I was…ten? The first time, anyway. He thought the Alliance wanted me to sabotage him.”

Cassian had difficulty hearing that. He’d endured plenty of terrible things in the name of the Rebellion as a child. Many of his friends had endured worse. But this was Jyn. She returned cats to little girls and pulled children from firefights and…cried. With her childhood, she wasn’t supposed to be caring. Cassian wasn’t caring.

He sat in the pilot’s seat beside K-2SO and pretended he couldn’t hear Jyn talk about being trained to withstand waterboarding a week before she turned eight.

#

Jyn’s hatred of the Rebellion had begun to crack. She wasn’t sure if it was because her father was still part of it, in some way, or if her diminishing ire was because of Cassian. She’d seen the righteous, almost religious-like, believers in the cause. She’d been raised by one. But he was a true believer. She could see it in the core of him. It wasn’t that he had blind trust in the Alliance, but that he truly believed in giving everything he had to the greater good, to something bigger than himself. His faith pervaded every cell of his body. Guilt took up just as much residence.

She noticed it every time he had a moment of quiet, those rare times when he was left with only his thoughts. The haunted look in his eyes as he watched scenes past was a familiar one to Jyn. She’d seen that look on Saw and all his men—often reflected in her, too. Cassian’s faith had made him do things that kept him awake. Such was the price of revolution. That’s why she hadn’t looked back when Saw abandoned her on Tamsye Prime. She’d already given so much to the cause by the time she was sixteen: her childhood, her peace, her home.

But Cassian still believed. She almost envied him for that kind of conviction. It was something to hold onto when things got rough. All she had was rage, and that couldn’t last forever. In fact, some of it had been replaced with a warm feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time. Hope was a dangerous thing and infectious.

Bodhi twitched in his sleep. He leaned against the side of his seat. Chirrut looked quite cozy wrapped in Baze’s arms on the floor. Jyn suspected they were more than friends, but she wasn’t sure if monks could have romantic relationships. Her mother had once said that the Jedi were forbidden from romantic entanglement. Were the Guardians the same?

“You should sleep, Cassian,” Jyn said. “It’s still a couple hours to Eadu.”

Cassian glanced back at her from the pilot’s seat. “I’m fine.”

“He isn’t fine,” K-2SO said. “He has not slept properly in four days.”

“Shut it, K,” Cassian grumbled.

“But you need to rest. The human body cannot—”

Cassian stood. “Fine.” He passed Jyn, and despite his stiffness, his footsteps were soft—more likely a result of mindfulness than habit. He climbed down a hatch in the floor, leading to a room with two cots. She followed him, sensing something off about him. He sat on a cot as she closed the hatch behind her and slid down the ladder. 

“Is something wrong?” she asked. “You’ve been irritated since Jedha.”

He ran a hand through the dark waves atop his head. “I’m just tired.”

She sat on the cot opposite him. “You know, for a spy, you’re not very good at lying.”

“For a spy, you’re not making your skills useful,” he shot back with a grimace.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “And what do you know of my skills?”

“I know enough to recognize that you’d be a great asset to the Alliance.” He scowled. “And yet you’d rather smuggle weapons and rescue cats for little girls.”

There were several ways he could have known that last fact, so she chose to overlook it for now. “I don’t appreciate being used.” She searched his eyes. “Saw and the Alliance used me until I was sixteen. I’m done fighting other people’s battles.”

“Then whose battles are you going to fight? Your own?” It was a fair question, and one she couldn’t answer.

“We don’t fight for ourselves,” he continued. “We fight for _everyone_. How many people have to suffer at the hands of the Empire to make you understand that it’s not about you?” He shook his head and lay back on the cot. “Whatever. I’m going to sleep.”

Jyn stared at him a moment longer before lying back on her own cot. She doubted she’d sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

_4 BBY…_

The sun was low on the horizon now, casting shades of red and gold over the field. Soft wind made the grass roll in waves. Jyn lay beside Hadder, their fingers almost touching between them. They watched gold clouds pass overhead.

“I could join the Rebellion,” he mumbled. “They’re recruiting on Skuhl right now. You could come with me.”

She glanced at him. He was so young. His complexion hadn’t yet cleared, and the innocence of youth still shone in his brown eyes. She wasn’t much older, but he hadn’t lived like she had. He had a mother who loved him and a sheltered life in Skuhl, away from the dangers of the galaxy. The wind tousled the mess of brown curls atop his head.

“It’s not easy…being a rebel,” Jyn mumbled.

He smiled that easy smile of his that made his entire face brighten. “Yeah, but I’d get to fly and see other places.”

She looked over his slender figure. “Our life here is good. Trust me. This is better.”

He stared at her a moment, expression earnest for once. “All right. I won’t go.” He chewed his lip as he took her hand. “I could stay with you forever.”

Her heart skipped a beat. His eyes were warm despite the nervousness behind them. She knew that look, had seen it on many men, but she’d never felt so warmed by it before. Life here was quiet and satisfying. It let her forget that her father was probably building weapons for the Empire. It lulled her into believing she was a normal, teenage girl. It let her believe she could be happy.

He leaned over her, and she allowed him. He knew she could throw him off if she wanted. She didn’t. They held each other’s eyes, a silent question between them. She cupped his cheek and pulled him down. Their lips met softly. It was a short kiss, chaste even, but it lit a spark in Jyn’s chest and eased the pain knotted behind her ribs from years of pain and fighting.

He was her fresh start.

That was what she thought at the time. Only when the Imperials found her did she realize how stupid it was of her to believe she could ever have a normal life. They shot Hadder out of the sky with his mother. And she lost her family again.

#

_0 BBY…_

Cassian couldn’t take the shot. Galen Erso was right there, in his scope, and his finger wouldn’t pull the trigger.

He lowered his sniper. The rain fell heavily on Eadu, dripping into his eyes. What was he doing? He had orders. His head dropped to the butt of his gun as he tried to catch his breath. Jyn would never forgive him if he took the shot, but more than that, he’d never forgive himself. All evidence suggested Galen was on the side of the Rebellion—that he’d always been—and had done his best to give them all a chance at winning this war. If Cassian took the shot, he would be killing one of their own. Again.

Cassian looked at the shuttle depot in time to see the ‘troopers open fire on the research team. They left Galen untouched. Krennic struck him to his knees. Cassian peered through his binoculars at the scene, and his stomach dropped. Jyn had climbed up the side of the platform. She crouched behind a crate, watching Krennic and her father. Why could she never just stay put?

“Cassian,” K-2SO said through the comm. “Cassian, can you hear me?”

He quickly pulled the receiver from his jacket. “I’m here. You’ve got it working?”

“Affirmative, yes—although we have a problem. There’s an Alliance squadron approaching. Clear the area.”

“No, no, no, no!” Cassian looked down at Jyn in a panic. “Tell them to hold off! Jyn’s on that platform!”

K-2SO clicked out of connection, but less than a minute later, the Alliance squadron opened fire. Cassian stared below.

“Jyn,” he breathed. “No.”

#

Jyn watched as Krennic leaned over her father and said, “Jedha, Saw Gerrera, his band of fanatics, their Holy City, the last reminder of the Jedi—gone.”

She couldn’t see Galen clearly, but she heard him. “You’ll never win,” he said.

“Now, where have I heard that before?” Krennic asked with a smirk.

An alarm buzzed. Krennic stood and turned just before Alliance ships fired on the platform. Sparks and fire burst out along the strip. The rain did little to stop it. The platform vibrated beneath Jyn’s feet from the force of the blasts. She ducked behind the crate she crouched behind. Krennic ordered his men to return fire on the ships. The Alliance fired another round. Jyn waited for a pause before running out.

“Father!” she called out.

Galen turned and stared at her, as if looking at a ghost. He wasn’t the man of her memory—with more wrinkles and gray hair—but it was him. After all these years, it was him.

Krennic lifted his blaster toward her, but never got a chance to fire before an Alliance blast sent them flying back. Jyn hit the wet platform with a grunt. Ringing filled her ears. She didn’t know how long she lay there, trying to catch her breath. Muffled voices seemed to shout something, but she couldn’t make out the words. Her hair clung to her face. She pushed herself up and dazedly looked around. The smell of burnt flesh and ozone filled the air.

Her father lay nearby. She half-crawled to him. The rumble of Krennic’s ship reverberated in her bones. The thrusters blew her back when it took off. She tumbled through the rain to a breach in the platform where the Alliance had shot it through. Her hand reached out and gripped the edge before she fell. Every muscle in her body protested pulling her up onto the platform again, but she did. Her legs awkwardly carried her to her father.

“Papa,” she breathed as she knelt beside him. “Papa, it’s me.” She cradled his head in her hands. “It’s Jyn.”

He stared up at her, but his eyes couldn’t quite focus on her face. “Jyn?” His voice was a rasp. “Stardust.”

She smiled at the old nickname. She only ever dreamed she’d hear him say it again. “Papa, I’ve seen your message—the hologram, I’ve seen it.”

“It must be destroyed.” He sounded gruff, as if it took all his strength to speak.

“I know.” She had to let him know that she would continue his work, that his suffering hadn’t been in vain. “I know. We will.”

The ghost of a smile touched his lips as he reached up to cup her cheek. “Jyn.” He said her name on a strained whisper. “Look at you.”

Tears stung her eyes as she smiled down at him. He pushed her damp hair from her face.

“I have so much to tell you,” he mumbled.

Her throat constricted when his eyes closed. He let out a choked breath. His hand fell away from her face, and he turned limp in her arms. A final breath escaped him.

“Papa,” she rasped. When he didn’t respond, she gripped his uniform and shook him. “No! No! Papa, come on!”

A stormtrooper distantly said, “Over there! Take them down!”

Three blaster shots sounded, followed by two heavy thuds, and then Cassian was beside her.

“Jyn, we gotta go,” he said urgently. “Come on.”

She held her father’s head in her hands. “I can’t leave him.”

Cassian pulled her shoulder until she looked up at him. “Listen to me,” he said. “He’s gone. There’s nothing you can do. Come on.” He tugged at her arm, but she wouldn’t move.

“I can’t leave him,” she repeated. She’d come this far. He was right here. Right here.

Cassian pulled her away roughly. She reluctantly went with him, glancing back at her father’s body as they went. Cassian guided her over the platform, directing her through enemy fire. A series of shots over them took down the squad of ‘troopers in their way—Baze’s work probably. She still looked back at her father when Cassian pushed her across the bridge leading off the platform, but he kept her going. They had to keep moving.

She couldn’t look back anymore.

#

Cassian could feel her stare on his back while he roughly pulled his gloves off. It was that same stare that made him feel so much smaller and vulnerable—the stare that bored into his soul and saw it in all its mangled, deformed, blackened entirety. Shame and anger burned through him at how easily she could unsettle him, how she could make him feel exactly as weak as he was.

She stormed up to him. “You lied to me.” Her voice stabbed into his chest.

He met her glare with his own. “You’re in shock.” But he couldn’t hold her eyes for long, not when she looked at him like that.

“You went up there to kill my father.” An accusation, and a true one.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered dismissively.

She still had that stare on him. “Deny it?” It sounded more like a challenge than a question.

“You’re in shock and looking for some place to put it.” It was a lie, and a terrible thing to say. But he couldn’t stop now. “I’ve seen it before.”

“I bet you have.”

He internally flinched at the words. She knew who he was. She looked at him with those piercing eyes, and she _knew_.

“They know!” she continued. “You lied about why we came here, and you lied about why you went up alone.”

He let out a tired breath, struggling to keep his composure. Every word hit him worse than a fist ever could. “I had every chance to pull the trigger, but did I?” He held her eyes then, daring her to say otherwise. When she just stared at him, he looked around her to Bodhi. “Did I?”

Bodhi averted his gaze.

“You might as well have,” Jyn said, voice low but not gentle. “My father was living proof, and you put him at risk. Those were Alliance bombs that killed him.”

Something in him broke. He leaned closer until he was in her face. “I had orders—orders that I disobeyed.” The justification felt hollow on his lips, and that he knew she could hear it just made him angrier. “But you wouldn’t understand that.”

“Orders?” she repeated in disbelief. “When you know they’re wrong?”

And there lay the difference between them. She saw no one as expendable. He couldn’t afford not to.

“You might as well be a stormtrooper,” she spat and then turned to walk away.

He went after her. “What do you know!”

She faced him again, fixing those eyes that knew too much on him.

“We don’t all have the luxury of deciding when and where we want to care about something,” he hissed. Trada’s last words rang in his ears. A disgusted smile touched his lips. “Suddenly, the Rebellion is real for you? Some of us _live_ it.”

Her gaze didn’t waver. She’d abandoned the cause years ago, and only now that her father was in it did she think to come back—as if this war was something she could dabble in as she pleased.

“I’ve been in this fight since I was _six years old_ ,” he bit out. “You’re not the only one who lost everything. Some of us just decided to do something about it.”

She shook her head, but her eyes said everything. She’d been fighting since she was seven. She’d lost everything multiple times over and given herself to the cause for years. If anyone knew loss, it was her. But unlike him, she hadn’t given up who she was, hadn’t let the war take all of her, hadn’t let it kill her in every way but body.

Her eyes burned into him. “You can’t talk your way around this.”

He stepped past her. “I don’t have to.”

#

Jyn cried for a good ten minutes in the darkness behind a storage crate. She’d gone to Eadu with the hope of saving her father. He’d been right there, spoke to her as he had before Krennic took him. And then he was gone again.

She didn’t know how to feel about Cassian. He hadn’t taken the shot. That fact alone kept her from taking her blaster up to the helm and putting a shot between his eyes. But the Alliance, his organization, had killed her father. Had Cassian known about the air strike? Would he have called it off if he had?

An hour passed before she felt calm enough to head up to the cockpit of their stolen shuttle. Cassian and K-2SO sat at the helm. The muscles of Cassian’s neck tensed when she approached. The blue and white lights flying past the glass showed they were still in hyperspace. She tapped K-2SO’s shoulder.

“K, can I have a minute with Cassian?” she asked.

“Don’t move, K,” Cassian grumbled.

K-2SO glanced between the two of them before standing and saying, “I’ll do inventory.”

“Thanks, K,” Jyn said and sat down. K-2SO headed below deck.

Cassian had a scowl firmly planted on his face. He wouldn’t look at her. They didn’t speak for a moment. Jyn wasn’t sure what to say. She’d never been good at these things. It was so much easier to lie, to say what people wanted to hear. But honesty—vulnerability—that was infinitely harder.

“Did you know?” she asked. “About the air strike—did you know?”

He shook his head. “No.”

She studied him a moment. No one had ever been able to outright lie to her. Her senses would never allow it. A breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding escaped her when she felt he was telling the truth. So he hadn’t pulled the trigger, and he hadn’t called in the strike. That didn’t mean he wasn’t responsible in a way. But it was enough that some of her anger drained.

Tense silence fell between them. She broke it when she softly said, “I watched Krennic kill my mother.”

He looked at her then. His face was still hard, but his eyes had softened some. He didn’t speak.

She didn’t know what compelled her to tell this story, but she kept going. “I was seven. He’d found us on Lah’mu. I was supposed to go to the bunker and wait, but I followed my parents to the field and hid in the grasses. Krennic shot my mother and then set his men out to look for me. I ran to the bunker and waited for… I don’t know how long I waited—at least a day.” She pulled her necklace from inside her shirt. “My mother gave me this the day she was killed. She believed in the Force, used to tell me stories about the jedi. I don’t know if they were real, but I like to believe.”

“They were real.” Cassian’s voice was strained. “They were very real.”

Relief washed through Jyn that she’d gotten him to talk. “How do you know?”

“I was in the Clone Wars.” He glanced at the kyber crystal at the end of her necklace. “The Jedi Order was there. They came too late, but they were there.”

“Did you ever meet any?”

He shook his head. “No, I stayed in the Outer Rim, but I heard reports about them every so often.” He paused a moment, silently looking ahead at the passing lights. “My father was killed when I was six. His old captain, Pilkan, took me in after that. I started spying for him because I could fit in the ventilation shafts of the Republican bases.”

A smile of recognition touched Jyn’s lips. “Saw had me do the same at first. I hated the ice planets.”

Cassian made a sound that wasn’t quite a chuckle, but close. “I still have burn scars.”

“Me, too.”

Silence fell between them again, not tense, but not comfortable either. A minute passed until he faced her, something dark in his eyes. “I’m sorry…about your father.”

She could see his guilt clearly, as she had earlier, but the anger was gone. He just looked…defeated. What had he thought about while aiming his gun at her father? What had stopped him?

“I’ve done things,” he said tightly, “for the Rebellion, but I couldn’t do…that.”

She put aside her judgments for a moment and asked, “Why?”

He lowered his eyes. “Your father didn’t deserve to die, and I couldn’t…do it again.”

She didn’t have to ask to understand what he meant by _do it again_.

“I was on Chandrila not long ago,” he continued, voice barely above a whisper. “It was supposed to be a simple extraction—get in, grab our agent, get out—but the Imperials used child soldiers. We didn’t know about it. Draven found out in some report by another team. He never told us.”

Jyn’s gut twisted. She knew where this was going. “What happened?”

He didn’t answer immediately, staring at his hands in his lap as if they could speak for him. “We found their base. Draven ordered us to set off a bomb beneath it. So I watched it go down, and this boy—maybe eight or nine—ran out on the roof while the building caved in. He looked at me.” Cassian’s voice broke. “I found his body in the debris and carried him to the river. It seemed a better place to rest than a destroyed Imperial base. He…had blue eyes.”

Jyn could almost see the child’s blood on Cassian’s hands, blood that he could never scrub off. Her hands weren’t clean either. “You didn’t know.”

“I didn’t question my orders either.” He met her gaze, and she saw the pain in his eyes. This was the life they were raised into. No one left it, not really. Even she had never been able to completely detach herself from the Rebellion in the years after Saw left her. Hope came at a price.

“I would have stayed with the Rebellion if Saw hadn’t left me on Tamsye Prime,” she said, “but it was hard to trust in anything after. My parents were gone. Saw left me.” She thought of Hadder. “I found another family, but I ended up getting them killed when the Imperials found me again. It seemed safer for everyone that I be on my own.”

His hands bunched into fists. “I know what you mean.”

K-2SO came up from below deck. “I am finished with inventory,” he reported. “Should I do something else?”

Jyn stood. “No, thank you, K.” She squeezed Cassian’s shoulder before heading down. Chirrut sat on the floor while Baze lay on the door. Bodhi was sitting at a console, doing something flight related probably.

“Forgiveness is for the undeserving,” Chirrut said abruptly.

Jyn glanced at him. “It’ll take some time until I forgive him.”

“I wasn’t referring to Cassian.” His unseeing eyes seemed to hold sympathy she didn’t deserve.

“You should get rest,” said Baze.

Chirrut arched a brow. “Are you talking to me or her?”

“Both.”

“Then I suggest you come closer, my friend.”

Baze rolled his eyes, but sat beside Chirrut without complaint. Jyn smiled when they leaned against each other. Real love was hard to come by in these times, but she saw it in them. She’d had that once and only once—a flicker of light in her dark past. It was foolish to hope she could ever have that again one day. But Saw had always said she was a bit of a sentimental fool, like her father.

She sat by Bodhi’s console and leaned her head against the wall. The hum of the engines filled her ears, better than any lullaby. The first time she’d ever been on a ship, her father had pointed out the stars to her and said everything was made from their dust. It had all seemed so beautiful, watching those bright lights through eyes untainted by time and pain and loss. She’d seen a different life for herself then—filled with stardust and hope.


	7. Chapter 7

Cassian knew what would happen long before Jyn stepped into the conference room to appeal to the Senate. They’d refuse. She had a history as a criminal, and the only man who could have swayed them was ash on Eadu. So Cassian called some friends.

It was a suicide mission. Likely, none of them would make it back, but he was done listening to bad orders. There was no saving his soul. Whatever was left of it belonged to this, to something greater than himself. Rebellions were built on hope. No one was expendable. And this cause was worth dying for.

Jyn and Bodhi stormed into the hangar. Chirrut and Baze remained leaning against the wall while she approached.

“You don’t look happy,” Baze commented.

Jyn had a grimace. “They prefer to surrender.”

“And you?”

Chirrut had a knowing smile. “She wants to fight.”

“So do I,” Bodhi said. “We all do.”

“The Force is strong,” Chirrut observed.

Baze and Jyn seemed unimpressed with the comment.

“I’m not sure four of us is quite enough,” Jyn muttered.

Baze glanced past her. “How many do we need?”

“What are you talking about?”

He pointed to something behind her. She turned as Cassian came closer, followed by the ragtag team he’d assembled.

“They were never going to believe you,” he said.

She gave a derisive smile. “I appreciate the support.” Her sarcasm was oddly endearing.

He ignored her comment. “But I do.” He stepped closer. “I believe you.”

Her smile vanished. She stared at him, at the team behind him, and then held his eyes. Her disbelief at his words seemed to war with the truth she saw. He could see that much in the way she looked at him, like he alone could restore her faith in the Rebellion.

“We’d like to volunteer.” He glanced back at his men. “Some of us… Well, most of us… We’ve all done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion—spies, saboteurs, assassins.” He was describing himself as much as the team. “Everything I did, I did for the Rebellion. And every time I walked away from something I wanted to forget, I told myself it was for a cause that I believed in, a cause that was worth it. Without that, we’re lost.”

Her eyes were soft and understanding, seeing straight into him as they always did, but he didn’t fear that anymore. She had seen his shame and anger and doubt, and she understood. He didn’t feel small when she looked at him like that. What did he have to hide now?

“Everything we’ve done would have been for nothing. I couldn’t face myself if I gave up now.” His chest warmed when he noticed she was almost in tears. “None of us could.”

She smiled up at him—a real, brilliant smile that lit up her eyes.

“It won’t be comfortable,” Bodhi stammered out. “It’d be a bit cramped, but we’d all fit.” When Jyn glanced back at him, he added, “We could go.”

Cassian smiled when Jyn looked at him expectantly. “Okay,” he said to his men, “gear up! Grab anything that’s not nailed down!”

Everyone moved to get ready. Cassian looked up at K-2SO when the droid said, “Jyn.”

She tilted her head curiously.

“I’ll be there for you,” K-2SO assured. It was sweet until he added, “Cassian said I had to.”

Jyn only smiled wider at that, and Cassian’s heart nearly stumbled out of his chest. K-2SO walked away to help the others. Cassian headed for Jyn.

“I’m not used to people sticking around when things go bad,” she said.

He leaned toward her, holding her eyes. “Welcome home.”

Her smile was blinding. He was reluctant to turn away. If there were any memory he wanted to hold onto, it was that smile.

#

The plan was something Jyn had wanted to utilize for a long time, but never got the opportunity to try while she was still with Saw. She’d been trained in deception and guerilla warfare. Everyone here had the same training. It was essentially an assembly of men who had no trouble fighting dirty. Jyn had ideas, and she forbade Cassian from coming up with the plans anymore—a point he didn’t argue.

The Empire’s biggest weakness was their conformity, how unwilling they were to express any kind of individuality. Stormtroopers were trained to follow orders, not think critically. Moreover, their uniforms were…well…uniform. It was easy to see which ‘trooper did what based on their appearance, and their helmets assured they never had any kind of uniqueness or defining characteristics to tell one of them from the other. They were a mass of faceless, nameless, unremarkable soldiers who couldn’t think for themselves.

And that worked very well for a small team of saboteurs, spies, and assassins.

The plan was simple. Some rebels would don stormtrooper uniforms, then join rank and lie about rebel whereabouts. That was the deception element. Jyn chose the spies and saboteurs for that. The assassins got the guerilla aspect. Once the bombs went off, the spies and saboteurs would scatter the forces with their fabricated reports, leading the ‘troopers directly into ambushes carried out by the assassins. Then came the denial tactics. Strategically putting fuel between bombs would create walls of fire that wouldn’t be easily crossable. The ‘troopers would be physically divided, allowing the rebels to pick them off in groups from within their own ranks. The ‘troopers would eventually figure out that some of their men were not part of their team, but by then, the fighting would be too chaotic and intense to do any thorough checks, slowing down decision-making on the whole.

When Jyn finished explaining the plan, one of Cassian’s friends, Melshi, asked her why she wasn’t already an Alliance infiltrator. She took it as a compliment.

An odd feeling overcame her, something cold and hot at the same time, when the ship dropped out of hyperspace. She and Baze looked at each other, and she knew he felt it, too. For once, the Force was real to her. It spoke now of death and destruction and greatness. Everything was as the Force willed it. Chirrut never failed to remind her of that.

Cassian descended the ladder and turned to her. “We’re landing.”

She saw her fear reflected in his eyes and only managed a nod.

“We’re coming in,” he announced to the others.

They stood. Jyn hesitantly faced them. She had to say something. These men would likely give up their lives for this. They all knew that.

“Saw Gerrera used to say,” she started with a voice stronger than she felt, “one fighter with a sharp stick and nothing to lose can take the day.” She looked around at all the eyes on her, all these people who had put their faith in her. “They’ve no idea we’re coming. They’ve no reason to expect us. If we can make it to the ground, we’ll take the next chance, and the next—on and on until we win…or the chances are spent.”

Some nodded weakly.

“The Death Star plans are down there. Cassian, K-2, and I will find them.” She held their eyes firmly. “We’ll find a way to find them.” She looked up at Cassian. She didn’t always trust herself, but she trusted in them, as a team.

Cassian looked over his men. “Melshi, Pao, Baze, Chirrut, you’ll take the main squad. Move east and get wide of the ship. Find a position between here and the tower. Once you get to the best spot, light the place up.” He smirked. “Make ten men feel like a hundred.”

The men murmured their agreement.

“And get those ‘troopers away from us.”

Bodhi appeared behind him. “What should I do?”

“Keep the engine running.” Cassian stare was intense, stressing the importance of his words. “You’re our _only_ way out of here.”

The panic in Bodhi’s eyes was almost comical. Jyn might have been worried if not for how much he’d proven himself thus far. He was junior, but he wouldn’t fail them.

When they landed, an Imperial inspection team came. The rebels knocked them out and stole their uniforms. Jyn didn’t appreciate the heavy, black armor she had to wear in the heat, but her face would be concealed. In uniform, Cassian looked…odd. Jyn was accustomed to seeing him in a leather jacket and bloodied pants, not a pressed uniform. She preferred the leather jacket.

As they were about to head out, Baze clasped her shoulder and said, “Good luck…little sister.”

Bodhi called for them to go. She offered a smile to Baze before heading out with Cassian and K-2SO. Force willing, they’d make it back alive.

#

Baze and Chirrut couldn’t act as stormtroopers. For one, Chirrut was blind and couldn’t react to visual stimuli in an expected way, and Baze was a little too heavy set to be in a ‘trooper uniform. So they hid in the trees with a handful of others. The stealth team was in the foliage on the opposite side of a garrison entrance. Once Melshi detonated the bombs, the garrison would be alerted, and everything would start.

Chirrut murmured prayers beside Baze. He held his staff in both hands, looking relaxed despite the circumstances. Baze stared, memorizing the details of Chirrut’s face. They’d been through so much together. This may have been their last adventure.

Chirrut abruptly stopped praying and smiled. “If you stare at me any harder, I might melt.”

Baze leaned down and pressed his forehead to Chirrut’s temple. “If we don’t make it—”

“Death is not the end, Baze Malbus.” Chirrut lifted a hand and unerringly found Baze’s cheek. “I will be with you in this life and the next.”

Baze took the hand from his face and turned Chirrut to face him. “I love you.”

Chirrut’s smile was warm and gentle and the most beautiful thing Baze had ever seen. “I love you, too.”

Some of the men glanced at them when Baze bent and kissed Chirrut softly. It was brief, but gave Baze strength. They would find each other in death as they found each other in life, Force willing.

Cassian’s voice broke through Melshi’s comm. “Light it up.”

Melshi hit the detonator.

#

Bodhi watched the bombs go off, sending flames high into the air across the base. Fire erupted where the teams had left trails of fuel. The walls of fire arched between garrison entrances, which would force the ‘troopers to go around if they wanted to combine forces. It also forced them to go through the water to get from one area to the next, effectively slowing them down. Jyn and Cassian would be on the move now.

“‘Troopers!” one of the rebels called out. “‘Troopers on the left!”

They pressed against the wall of the ship as ‘troopers ran past the door, ignoring them to head for one of the bomb blasts further east. They’d have to find a way around the fire lines before they got to the main squad, and Bodhi noticed two of them had black smears on their shoulder pads, subtly marking them as rebels in disguise. He smiled at that.

Minutes later, Scarif Control came over the comms, demanding reports on rebel whereabouts. Bodhi took the receiver.

“This is Pad Two, Pad Two,” he said quickly. “I spot forty rebels heading west on Pad Two.” He handed the receiver to the rebel beside him. “Get on there. Tell him you’re pinned down by rebels on Pad Five.”

The guy took it and urgently said, “This is Pad Five! We’re being overrun! Help us!” Very convincing stuff.

The Imperial forces would be spread out even more than they were already. It gave the main squad time, if nothing else. Cassian would be proud. They’d made ten men feel like a hundred.

Bodhi kept listening to reports from control and the other pads. Several squads were struggling to find a way around the trees that were ablaze. They called in AT-ATs to go through the fire, but no one could decide where to send the bulk of them. Control ordered them to scatter across five different areas. One ground team lead was abruptly cut-off mid-word, followed by choking and the sound of blasters.

“The rebels are disguised as our men!” someone reported. “I repeat, the rebels are disguised as— Agh!” The comm abruptly cut out.

Now the ‘troopers wouldn’t know who to trust. Bodhi wanted to give Jyn a high-five for her plan. It was working well so far.

“Rebel ships incoming!” Control reported.

Bodhi looked through the glass over the helm as Alliance ships sped overhead. He watched them take down two AT-ATs headed east. He switched to their channel quickly.

“Alliance, this is Rogue One,” he said quickly. “Please be advised. Some of us are disguised in ‘trooper uniform. Shoot with caution.”

“Copy, Rogue One,” someone replied, presumably the team leader. “Advise. Is there any way to tell you apart?”

That was a good question. They probably couldn’t see soot smears on shoulder pads from the sky. “Stand by.” He pulled out the private receiver from his jacket. “Melshi, are you there?”

“Here,” Melshi responded immediately.

“The Alliance ships want to know how to distinguish our disguised men from the ‘troopers. We need to be visible from the sky, but not so obvious that the ‘troopers can point us out.”

There was a pause. “We’ll smear blood on our helmets and torsos. The red should be bright enough.”

“Copy that.” Bodhi switched receivers and told the Alliance team leader. “Also, keep the ‘troopers back from the east. Concentrate on keeping them west as much as possible.”

“Wilco, Rogue One.”

Bodhi returned to listening to the reports from Control. He said something every so often to keep them off the main squad. And then Cassian came over the private comm.

“Bodhi! Bodhi, can you hear me?”

Bodhi fumbled to take out his comm, and then paused when a ‘trooper squad neared the pad.

“Bodhi, tell me you’re out there! Bodhi!”

“I’m here,” Bodhi said quietly as the squad passed through. “I was standing by. They’ve started fighting. The base is on lockdown.”

Cassian let out a breath. “I know. Listen to me. The rebel fleet is up there. You’ve got to tell them to blow a hole in the shield gate, so we can transmit the plans.”

But if the shield gate was closed, then he couldn’t get a signal strong enough to get past it. “Wait, I can’t,” he stammered out quickly. “I’m not hooked into the comms tower. We’re not tied in.”

“It’s the only way we’re getting them out of here. Find a way.” Cassian clicked out of connection.

Bodhi took a breath, thought about it for a moment, and then headed down. “Get ready,” he said to the men with him. “We’re gonna have to go out there.” He hurried to get the cables from the back.

“What are you doing?” one of the rebels asked.

Bodhi took out the cable line. It was wrapped in its case. “They’ve closed the shield gate. We’re stuck here, but the rebel fleet are pulling in. We just have to get a signal strong enough to get through to them. For that, we have to connect to the communications tower. Now, I can patch us in over here, the landing pad, but you have to get on the radio. Get one of the guys out there to find a master switch. Get them to activate the connection between us and that comms tower, okay?” When they just looked at each other, he ordered, “Go!”

They jumped into action, grabbing ammo and grenades. Jyn had said all there was to do was take chances until they won or ran out of chances. Bodhi prayed there were more chances ahead.


	8. Chapter 8

Jyn could hardly believe they’d made it this far. She looked through different warfare projects in the data vault with Cassian. Every so often, she heard K-2SO shoot someone.

“‘Hyperspace Tracking,’” she read, “‘Navigational Systems.’”

“Two screens down,” K-2SO said through the receiver. “‘Structural Engineering.’ Open that one.” The sound of a blaster followed the instructions.

She looked through it until she found what she wanted. “Project code names: Stellarsphere, Mark Omega, Pax Aurora.” None of these looked right. She kept going. Cassian leaned over her shoulder to look at the console screen.

“War Mantle,” she murmured, “Cluster Prism, Blacksaber.” She paused when she saw the next one.

“What?” Cassian prompted.

“Stardust.” She looked up at him. “That’s it.”

His brows furrowed. “How do you know that?”

She smiled slightly. “I know because it’s me.”

Cassian returned her smile and said into his comm, “K, we need the file for Stardust.”

There was a significant amount of blaster fire before K-2SO said, “Stardust.”

A green light flashed in the column of data packs through the vault window. “That’s it,” Jyn said.

Cassian turned the handles in front of the console to direct the extraction mechanism up to the file. The sound of blaster fire intensified as he pulled out Stardust. The power abruptly shut off, casting them in darkness for a moment.

“K?” Cassian called out.

“Climb,” K-2SO answered desperately. “Climb. You can still send the plans to the fleet. If they open the shield gate, you can broadcast from the tower.”

Cassian paled as he looked at Jyn. They both knew what the urgency in K-2SO’s voice meant. Blaster fire came through the comm, louder now.

“Locking the vault door now,” K-2SO said.

Cassian turned to look at the door. “K? K!”

“Goodbye.”

Cassian lunged for the door. “K!”

The comm cut out. Four clicks sounded. And the door locked.

Jyn’s chest constricted. Cassian stared helplessly at the door. K-2SO was gone.

#

“Melshi!” Tonc’s voice came through the receiver. “Melshi, come in! Are you there? Bodhi sent a signal from here. He’s patching us in, but you guys have to open up a line for the tower.”

Baze, Chirrut, Melshi, and Pao took cover in the trees, watching the Alliance ships take down AT-AT’s on the beach across the way.

Melshi took of his hat tiredly. “How?” he asked. “Please advise.”

“There’s a master switch at the base of the comm tower,” Tonc explained.

“Master switch? Describe. What are we looking for?”

There was a pause. Baze cast an anxious glance at Melshi as the AT-ATs drew closer.

“Everything is as the Force wills it,” Chirrut said, still a picture of calm.

Baze took a breath. “Melshi, call one of our disguised men to the comm tower base. He can look for the master switch with less risk of getting caught.”

Melshi nodded. “Right.”

Chirrut smiled. “As the Force wills it.”

“As _I_ will it,” Baze corrected. He watched an Alliance ship drop reinforcements on the beach to protect another ground team. They had to move.

“We don’t have time to wait for instructions,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Chirrut chuckled as he followed Baze through the trees. They headed for the comms tower.

#

Bodhi hooked his cable into the comm hubs. The helmet on his head was stuffy, but at least he stood less of a chance of being killed on sight. When he was done, he headed back to the ship, but the cable got caught around a generator on the launch pad. He went back to disentangle it. A squad of troopers chose at that moment to emerge from the trees.

“Hey, you!” one of them said. “What are you doing?”

He stood and turned, heart pounding in his chest. “Ah… I was fixing our comm lines. The rebels broke them. I haven’t been able to connect with Control.”

“I see.” The ‘trooper motioned the rest of his team to keep moving. “As you were.”

Bodhi didn’t move until they disappeared into the trees. His hands shook until he finished disentangling the cable. Then he hurried into the shuttle.

“Bodhi?” Cassian said through the comm. “Are you there? Did you call the fleet?”

Bodhi slotted the cable into the communications port in the shuttle. “Not yet. Melshi hasn’t hit the master switch yet. We haven’t connected.”

“You have to. They have to hit that gate. If the shield’s open, we can send the plans.”

One stormtrooper with blood smeared over his helmet ran into the ship. He pulled his helmet off to reveal the rebel beneath. “Tonc went in disguise to the comm tower. Melshi and his team will cover him.”

Bodhi nodded. “Good. Once we flip the master switch, we’ll be connected.” He glanced outside when ‘troopers ran past. “Put your helmet back on and pretend to help me fix things.”

The rebel did as told. One of the ‘troopers outside thought to ask them what they were doing, but moved on when Bodhi gave the same lie he had said before. He imagined Galen was watching over him.

“Melshi,” Bodhi said into his receiver. “Come in, please.”

“Tonc is inbound,” Melshi said. “We’re drawing the enemy away from him, so he can get to the switch.”

“I just need an open line.”

“Stand by.”

Bodhi took a deep breath and prayed. The sound of blaster fire grew louder. A fight was headed their way. He wondered how long his disguise would hold up.

#

Cassian stripped out of the Imperial uniform as Jyn did the same. She shot through the vault window, allowing them to climb out and onto the column of data files. It was a long, deadly drop down to the bottom. Cassian cursed whoever had made this ridiculous design for the server. It would have made more sense to order things horizontally for easy access and cooling purposes, but no, they had to make it as hard as possible. Blasted Imperials.

He and Jyn made their way up to Stardust. She tugged at it. “I’ve got it!” she said over the roar of the vents that kept the servers cool.

She pulled harder until it abruptly came free. Her body pitched backward.

He grabbed her leg. “Careful!”

She swung back into the column and stared down at the fatal distance between her and the bottom. Her grip tightened.

“You okay?” he asked.

She hooked the data file to the back of her belt and smiled, undeterred as ever. Cassian shook his head, and they headed up again.

Halfway along, a set of doors slid open, revealing Imperial officers—Krennic among them. Cassian grabbed his blaster. “Jyn!” he called up in warning before shooting at the officers. One of them went down, dropping all the way to the base of the column.

Krennic lurched back for only a moment before returning fire. Cassian and Jyn inched around the column to get out of their line of sight. Krennic shot at one of Jyn’s hands. She lost her grip and swung out. Cassian’s stomach dropped until she turned and found another hold. They made it to the back of the column, out of the way of fire. Cassian leaned around the edge and let off a shot that downed the other officer. Krennic returned fire. A bolt hit Cassian in the shoulder.

Pain burned through him a moment before he lost his grip. There was the feeling of falling. Then his back hit something hard. The air rushed out of him. He pitched forward. His head and chest slammed into a beam.

He never felt the ground.

#

 Baze waited to hear a pause in fire to turn around the corner of his cover and let off a series of shots. Multiple ‘troopers went down, but they were soon replaced by more, like cockroaches. He, Chirrut, Pao, and Melshi were pinned down in the niches of the comms tower base, waiting for Tonc. So far, only regular ‘troopers were coming in. Melshi clutched a wound in his shoulder. He glanced every so often at the console that was just a few feet away. The master switch sat at the edge of it.

“He’s here,” Chirrut said abruptly.

Baze looked around his cover just in time to see a ‘trooper with a blood-smeared helmet burst through the ranks and make his way to the console. He flipped the switch and then ran like there was a demon behind him. A ‘trooper raised his gun to fire on Tonc, but Chirrut let out a single shot. It hit the ‘trooper squarely in the chest.

An AT-AT broke through the trees. Baze grabbed Chirrut and pulled him close. They’d gotten the master switch, and there was no way out with an AT-AT in their way.

“You used to be the most faithful of us, Baze Malbus,” Chirrut said, but leaned into him.

Baze shook his head. “I don’t think faith can get us out this time, Chirrut.”

The AT-AT fired several shots. Baze squeezed his eyes shut. The ground reverberated beneath him for a minute, but when the firing stopped, he opened his eyes, still alive.

“Hey, Melshi,” Casrich said over the comm. “Guess who was four feet and just saved your sorry ass.”

Melshi looked up at the AT-AT with wide eyes. “You did not hijack a walker.”

“Did you know that, if you wear a gunnery captain’s uniform, they just give you one of these?” Casrich chuckled. “I suggest you start hauling ass, sarge.”

Melshi exchanged a glance with Baze.

“I told you so,” Chirrut said. “The Force is with us.”

Baze rolled his eyes.

#

The moment the console lit up with an established comms connection, Bodhi called into the receiver, “This is Rogue One calling any Alliance ships that can hear me!” When no one responded, he tore his helmet off and shouted, “Is there anybody out there! This is Rogue One! Come in! Over!”

“This is Admiral Raddus, Rogue One,” came the reply. “We hear you.”

Relief turned to giddiness. Bodhi held onto the receiver tightly. “We have the plans!” His voice shook with nervous delight, and he took a moment to compose himself. “They found the Death Star plans. They have to transmit them from the communications tower. You have to take down the shield gate. It’s the only way they’re gonna get them through.”

There was a pause, then, “Stand by, Rogue One. We’re on it.”

“This is for you, Galen,” Bodhi murmured a moment before a ‘trooper ran into the shuttle.

“What are you doing?” she demanded and forced his helmet on his head. “Get out there!” She shoved a blaster into his hands and pushed him out of the shuttle.

He stumbled into cover as shots whizzed over him. Rebel soldiers fired from within the trees. The ‘troopers used the blaster shields and crates on the launch pad as cover. Bodhi’s hands shook while he squeezed off a couple shots, aiming far too high to hit anything, and then he ducked for cover again.

The ‘trooper beside him shot a rebel in the arm. Bodhi hesitated a moment before lifting his blaster. He shot her once in the head, point-blank. She went down. He looked around in a panic. None of the other ‘troopers had noticed, too focused on the rebels.

Bodhi glanced down at the ‘trooper he’d killed and then looked to another nearby. The rebels didn’t shoot at him as he ran behind a blast shield and shot the ‘trooper squarely in the chest. How long could he keep this up until they discovered him?

#

Jyn stared at his unmoving body a moment. Cassian had fallen at least fifteen feet down and hit two beams on the way. She couldn’t see him breathing. Her chest felt tight when she tore her eyes away and continued up the column. If she stopped now, everything they’d done so far would be in vain. She had to succeed—for her father, for Cassian, for the greater good.

Krennic didn’t try climbing after her. It wasn’t until she reached the top that she encountered another problem. The vent opened and closed periodically to control airflow. It would slice through her if she got caught in it. She heaved herself up as it closed. By the time she had to go through, it opened again, and she slipped past. Her foot barely breached the opening before the panels closed again.

She clutched to the walls. Light streamed from above. It grew brighter as she climbed and climbed and climbed. Her arms and legs ached, and still, she climbed until her fingers gripped the edge of the shaft’s mouth. The roar of the Alliance ships and TIE fighters rang through the air. She hoisted herself up onto the satellite dish platform. Explosions burst across the beach. Ships shot each other down. AT-ATs stomped over the ground.

Jyn looked over the platform. There was a console at the base of the dish. She ran to it and slotted the data file into the port, but when she tried to pull the switch to transmit, an automated voice said, “Reset antenna alignment. Reset antenna alignment. Reset antenna alignment.” It kept repeating itself.

A display on the console showed the degrees needed to reset. Jyn turned and looked at a console down a walkway. Why did the Imperials have to make everything so kriffing complicated?

She ran for it, blaster out to defend against the ships overhead. The dish moved slowly after she input the instructions into the console. When it stopped, that voice announced, “Antenna aligned.”

The screech of a TIE fighter brought her head up. She bolted down the walkway just before it opened fire. The blasts struck her path, sending her flying back. Metal groaned. The walkway sank down. She grabbed a railing before she fell over the edge. Her arms shook with fatigue when she pulled herself back up. Her right leg had been shot through at her thigh. Blood flowed freely from the wound. She limped as quickly as she could toward the main console again.

Krennic emerged from a door, blaster raised. She froze in her tracks. He encroached on her.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

She glared at him, at this pathetic man who knew only greed and power. “You know who I am. I’m Jyn Erso, daughter of Galen and Lyra.” She held her head up. “You’ve lost.”

Krennic’s jaw clenched. “Oh, I have, have I?”

She needed to stall if she was going to figure out an escape. “My father’s revenge: He built a flaw in the Death Star. He put a fuse in the middle of your machine, and I’ve just told the entire galaxy how to light it.”

“The shield is up,” he spat. “Your signal will never reach the rebel base. All your ships in the air will be destroyed. I lose nothing, but time.” He scowled. “You, on the other hand, die with the Rebellion.”

A shot rang out. Jyn flinched, but she felt no pain. Krennic hunched over and collapsed. She looked past his body. Relief and joy rushed through her. Cassian leaned against a column, blaster raised. A hole burned in his shoulder, but he was upright and alive. She beamed. He smiled back and jerked his head toward the main console. She ran to it and pulled the switch. The transmitter powered up, and its data uploaded over the display.

“Transmitting,” the automated voice said. “Transmitting.”

Jyn ran over to Cassian, but then she followed his gaze to Krennic, the man who’d killed her mother and stolen her father. Cassian held her back when she lunged.

“Hey!” he warned. “Leave it!” Then gentler, “Leave it.”

She stopped struggling.

“That’s it.” He let out a tired breath. “That’s it.” The words meant more than that they were at the end. If they wanted to leave, they had to get down now and find a ship.

She looked up at him as he rasped, “Let’s go.” His breaths were labored.

She pulled his arm over her shoulder and half-carried him toward the door Krennic had come from. It was a lift.

“Do you think,” he mumbled, “anybody’s listening?”

“I do.” She smiled tiredly. “Someone’s out there.”

They stumbled into the lift and leaned against the wall. Jyn’s leg was starting to lose feeling. He seemed to struggle for breath. They wouldn’t get far as they were.

The doors shut. The lift descended. She looked up at him, and he held her eyes. They’d come so far together. How much further could they go?

His arm tightened around her shoulders—a silent reminder that, even if they didn’t make it, they’d done it. She dropped her face to his shoulder and breathed for what felt like the first time in years. He rested his cheek against the top of her head.

Their fight was over now.

#

Cassian heard the battle, but it felt distant. He stumbled with Jyn over the beach, down to the water’s edge. It seemed a better place to die than an Imperial comms tower.

The blast sent shockwaves through the earth. It glowed on the water, brighter and brighter until it consumed the horizon. In a minute, it would consume them, too.

They dropped to their knees. The water lapped at them. Cassian took his eyes from the light to look at Jyn.

“Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn,” he said, needing to say one last consolation before both of them vanished into half-formed memories in rebel legend.

Her smile was sad. She took his hand and held it tightly. He never imagined he’d be lucky enough to die with someone, least of all someone like her. His brushes with death were always solitary—down ventilation shafts, at the bottom of ditches, in dark alleyways. No, he never could have hoped for this: to face the light of the end beside the woman who’d saved him in every sense of the word.

She wrapped her arms around him, and he held her close. The light was close enough to feel the heat of it now. He closed his eyes and waited.


	9. Chapter 9

All fighting ceased once the blast hit. Bodhi hauled ass to the shuttle, along with multiple ‘troopers. The rebels in disguise shot all the ones without blood smears, and Bodhi took off.

“Melshi!” he yelled into the receiver. “Melshi, where are you!”

Melshi’s voice was weak but distinguishable. “Base of the comm tower, near the transport.”

“I’m coming. Stay there.” Pao took the co-pilot’s seat while Bodhi flew to Melshi’s position. Baze, Chirrut, and Melshi were the only ones still alive among the main squad. The others lay scattered over the beach. Bodhi didn’t land. He just dipped low and opened the bay door. Baze carried Melshi onto the shuttle. Chirrut limped behind.

“Cassian!” Bodhi called over the comm when he took off again. “Cassian, are you out there!”

There was no answer. The blast was getting dangerously close. Chirrut came up behind Bodhi and pointed to a wide section of beach at the base of the tower.

“There,” he said.

Bodhi briefly questioned the sanity of getting directions from a blind man before speeding down. Two people knelt together on the beach, holding each other.

“It’s them,” Bodhi mumbled in disbelief.

The blast was so close now it would overtake them in seconds. Bodhi made a decision.

“Prepare for a jump,” he said to Pao just before flipping the ship around fast enough to make everyone lose their footing. They descended near Cassian and Jyn. Bodhi opened the door just as the light of the blast rushed over them. The thrusters punched back, hopefully scooping Cassian and Jyn inside. The ship groaned from the force and heat. As soon as the door was closed again, Pao launched them into hyperspace.

“Damage report,” Bodhi requested when the light of the stars replaced the glow of the Death Star’s explosion.

Pao looked over his console. Blood dripped into his eyes from a shallow head wound. He wiped it away absently. “The engines are going to overheat. We need to stop for repairs.”

Bodhi counted to fifteen before dropping out of hyperspace and shutting off the engines. They were in a damaged shuttle, in the middle of a vast nothing. But they were alive—some of them, anyway.

Bodhi headed down to the lower deck. Baze and Chirrut stood over Cassian and Jyn. Sand covered the floor. Radiation burns spanned the right side of Jyn’s body and the left side of Cassian’s—the sides that had been facing the blast. A gaping wound bled from Cassian’s shoulder. Jyn’s leg was drenched in blood. They lay tangled in each other’s arms, unconscious but breathing.

“We have some bacta gel in the back,” Melshi rasped from against the wall, hand over a deep wound in his chest. Blood dripped between his fingers. “It’ll last us until we can get back to base.”

A rebel hobbled to the storage crates in the back of the shuttle and rummaged through them for bacta gel. Bodhi stared at Cassian and Jyn. If he’d just been a little faster…

A hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his dark thoughts. “You saved their lives,” Chirrut said, “and all of ours.”

Baze dropped his gun and pulled off his armor. “Don’t we have a ship to repair, little brother?”

Bodhi nodded. “Yeah, I’ll… I’ll get on that.” He forced himself away from Jyn and Cassian. The sooner the engines were repaired, the sooner they could get medical attention.

#

She couldn’t feel her leg. It was different than if it was just numb. There was feeling down to her mid-thigh, and then…nothing. She tried to open her eyes, but only the left one would. An expanse of white greeted her. She squinted against the harshness of it until her eye adjusted.

An oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth. Her left arm had an IV in it, so she used her right hand to pull off the mask. Cots lined the walls of the room. They were all filled. Attendants, flesh and droid alike, drifted between patients. A med-bay?

Jyn tried to sit up. Her right leg wouldn’t move, so she used her left to push her up. And then she looked down and saw why her right leg wouldn’t move.

Everything below her thigh was gone. The beginnings of panic tangled in her gut. A monitor beside her beeped. She looked up as 103 flashed on it. A doctor hurried over to her.

“Jyn Erso,” he greeted, “it’s all right. You’re on Yavin Four.”

She couldn’t get the right side of her mouth to move when she spoke. “What happened to me?” The words came out rough and garbled from her dry throat.

The doctor frowned. “You lost a lot of blood in your leg. We had to amputate it.” He looked her over. “You also have minor radiation burns. You’ll need a few more treatments before we’re finished repairing your muscles and skin.”

She probably should have been horrified or self-conscious or something to that effect, but all she felt was shock. She’d been prepared to die. The blast had overtaken her and Cassian.

Cassian.

“Where is he?” she asked hurriedly. “Cassian Andor. Where is he?”

The doctor nodded to something at her right. She had to turn to see what he indicated since her right eye still wouldn’t open.

Cassian lay in a bed. Burns covered the left side of his body. His right arm was gone from the shoulder down. An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth. An IV dripped steadily into his arm. But his chest rose and fell. He was alive.

They were alive.

“Mothma and Draven said they wanted to speak with you when you woke up,” the doctor said. “If you need more rest, I can tell them you’re not ready yet.”

She didn’t look away from Cassian, afraid he’d disappear if she did. “I can talk with them.” When the doctor moved to go, she said, “Wait. Can you push me closer to him?”

The doctor glanced at Cassian, and then her. “Just be careful. You’re both in fragile states.” He pushed her bed over.

She didn’t reach for Cassian. His left side was nearest, and she didn’t want to upset his burns or her own. She just lay there and watched him breathe.

It was several minutes until Mothma and Draven came to see her. An attendant propped her bed up, so she could comfortably face them upright.

“You’re a hero, Jyn,” Mothma said with a small smile. “We received your transmission.”

Draven didn’t smile, but his eyes were warmer than Jyn had ever seen them. “Your team will go down in history.”

She glanced at Cassian. “How many of us made it back?”

Mothma lowered her eyes. “The pilot, Bodhi Rook, Guardians Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus, Corporal Pao, Sergeant Ruescott Melshi, Coporal Stordan Tonc, and Private Farsin Kappehl are the only members of Rogue One who returned from Scarif. Kappehl and Tonc died of their injuries yesterday.”

So seven of the sixteen of them had survived. Tears stung her eyes. She didn’t let them fall. “I see.”

Draven took a tablet from his hip and offered it to her. “This is yours to keep. It has reports from various officers in the fleet who made it back. I was hoping you could add your own report to them.”

She took the tablet with her unburned hand. “All right.”

“We also have a proposition for you,” Mothma said. “We understand it’ll take you some time to recover, but if you want it, we’d like to have you as a sergeant and tactical strategist with the Pathfinders, a special forces unit. Sergeant Rook informed us of your strategy skills that made your infiltration of Scarif so effective. We believe you could do well with the Pathfinders.”

Jyn glanced down at her leg, or rather the lack thereof. “Not all of me made it back from Scarif, ma’am.”

“You would, of course, receive a fully functioning, military-grade prosthesis—regardless of if you decide to accept your role or not.” She offered a sympathetic smile. “You don’t have to decide now, but the offer is there.”

Draven nodded tersely. “We should let you rest.” He headed away with Mothma.

Jyn stared down at the tablet in her hand. It was open to a blank reports page. How could she begin to explain what had happened on Scarif?

She looked over at Cassian. This all started with them—a pair of rogue rebels who knew they could never redeem their sins, only die for them. Neither of them expected to come back to tell their story. What was she supposed to say?

The blank page stared at her. She chewed her lip a moment, and then started typing.

#

The first thing Cassian heard was her soft voice. It tugged at him until he found the strength to open his eyes.

“—have a problem with the skin grafts,” she said. “I know I’ll never be able to feel all of my skin now. It’s my leg that’s the problem. I don’t have one.”

Cassian groaned as an ache settled deep within his bones, and his back seized when he tried to move.

“Cassian?” Jyn’s voice was close.

He managed to turn his head to look at her. She lay in the bed beside him. Faded burns covered the right side of her face—the side that hadn’t been pressed against him. “You’re alive.” His voice sounded rough to his own ears.

She smiled, but the right side of her mouth didn’t quite pull up as much as the left. Her right eye had a white patch over it. “So are you.”

That wasn’t right. He’d felt the light overtake them, felt the heat burn through him, felt the end.

“We got you out at the last second,” a small voice said.

He looked away from Jyn to the man standing beside her. Bodhi looked relatively unharmed, save for a couple bruises and a split lip.

“I tried to get you before the blast hit you,” he continued. “It was close.”

Cassian could see that. He and Jyn had mirrored burns. When he tried to move his arm to push himself up, it didn’t react. He looked down. Empty space extended past his right shoulder.

“Cassian?” Jyn said gently.

His lips pressed together. It felt…wrong. It didn’t hurt, but the absence of feeling was somehow worse. “What happened to my arm?”

“Krennic hit an artery. The doctors said your arm was dead by the time we got back to base. They had to amputate it.”

He turned to her again. “Are you all right?”

She shrugged. “The skin grafts are taking for the burns, but…” She lifted the stump of her right leg. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”

He reached out with the hand he still had and took hers. They were both riddled with burns, but she didn’t pull away. “We are,” he rasped, throat tight.

Tears fell from her eye. She dropped her head to his shoulder. He couldn’t stop his own tears as he bent to press his face into her hair. They’d made it. Despite it all, despite everything they’d been through, he got to see her again.

“I thought it was the best way I could die,” he whispered into the top of her head, “with you at my side.”

She gripped his hand tighter. “Would it be a good way to live?”

He smiled, even though it hurt. “I hope so, Jyn Erso.”

#

_Report ID: 34-MR6 – Guardian of the Whills Chirrut Îmwe, Rogue One_

_You want to know what I saw? Well, this is going to be a very short report._

_Report ID: 34-MR5 – Guardian of the Whills Baze Malbus, Rogue One_

_Jyn is smart. Cassian isn’t as smart, but he’s loyal and brave—the kind of stupid hopefulness that gets people killed as often as it saves them._

_Report ID: 34-MR13 – Corporal Paodok'Draba'Takat Sap'De'Rekti Nik'Linke'Ti' Ki'Vef'Nik'NeSevef'Li'Kek, Rogue One_

_I’m never listening to Andor again._

_Report ID: 34-MR3 – Sergeant Ruescott Melshi, Rogue One_

_You know, when Erso knocked me out on Wobani and then beat my team with a shovel, I didn’t think I’d be fighting alongside her. Andor sure knows how to pick them._

_Report ID: 32-MR4 – Technical Sergeant Bodhi Rook, Rogue One_

_I believed in Jyn’s father, and I believed in Jyn. Galen said I could redeem myself, if I was strong and brave. Jyn gave me the opportunity._

_Report ID: 34-MR1 – Captain Cassian Andor, Rogue One_

_I thought I could at least make this war end faster, so no one ever has to do what I have. The Rebellion will end when the Empire does. I look forward to the day I’m no longer needed._

_Report ID: 34-MR2 – Sergeant Jyn Erso, Rogue One_

_Cassian once told me rebellions are built on hope. I see now what he meant. My father, Saw, those we lost on Scarif—they gave their lives so that we could be free from the Empire’s terror. They hoped for a better future._

_It’s easy to look at the ground and pretend everything’s fine. It’s harder to hope. But we have to look up at those Imperial flags if we’re ever going to take them down._


End file.
